Hytale on Steam? Don’t hold your breath! Understand why the ‘new Minecraft’ snubbed Valve’s store

Those who were counting the seconds to finally get their hands on Hytale — the sandbox RPG that carries the weight of being the “spiritual successor” to Minecraft — probably rushed to Steam hoping to download it. And the surprise wasn’t a good one: no store page, no purchase button. If you found it strange, know it wasn’t a mistake. It was a deliberate and strategic choice that is giving people something to talk about.

Hypixel Studios decided to launch the game’s early access exclusively through its own launcher, completely ignoring (at least for now) the most popular showcase in the gaming world. But why turn your back on millions of potential players on Valve’s store? The answer is simple and direct: damage control.

The development team knows that the game, although playable, is still “raw.” Launching a title in Early Access on Steam is like flipping a coin: you can explode with success or be buried under an avalanche of negative reviews from users who expected a finished product. By keeping the game in its own ecosystem, Hypixel ensures that feedback comes from a “hardcore” community, more interested in helping polish the bugs than complaining about performance in the comments.

Furthermore, avoiding Steam gives the developers total freedom over the mod and update infrastructure, without the constraints or fees from Gabe Newell’s platform. For a game born from the modding community (remember, it all started on a Minecraft server), having absolute control over how creators interact with the game is a matter of life or death.

So, if you want to explore the dungeons of Orbis now, prepare your hard drive for one more launcher installed on your PC. Steam might even get the game in the future (perhaps in version 1.0), but for now, the party is private and happens far from Valve’s eyes.