Hytale tops Twitch viewership charts on early access launch day with more than 420,000 viewers

Hytale briefly became Twitch’s most-watched game on launch day, peaking at more than 420,000 viewers

Hytale has become the most-watched game on Twitch following the launch of its early access version, drawing more than 420,000 concurrent viewers at its peak on release day.

The sandbox game, developed by the creators of the Minecraft server Hypixel, briefly topped Twitch’s video game rankings, according to figures observed on the platform.

At one point, it ranked as the second-most-watched category overall, behind only Just Chatting by approximately 43,000 viewers.

Later in the day, viewership declined to around 260,000, though Hytale remained the most-watched game and the third-most-watched category on Twitch, behind Just Chatting and the football competition Kings League.

The surge in interest marks a notable turnaround for the project. Hytale was first announced in 2018 with a trailer that attracted significant attention. Riot Games invested in the title and acquired it in 2020, but development delays followed as the project’s scope expanded.

In the past year, Riot cancelled the game. In November, Hypn Collins-Laflamme, co-founder of Hypixel, announced that he had reacquired the intellectual property rights, allowing development to resume independently. The team subsequently prepared the game for an early access release in a short timeframe.

Alongside its Twitch performance, the game has reportedly generated enough revenue to fund a further two years of development.

Its modding tools were also made available at launch, and early activity suggests strong engagement from creators. Examples of user-generated content have already circulated online, including the recreation of other games within Hytale’s framework.

Player numbers for the first day have not yet been confirmed by Hypixel. However, Collins-Laflamme previously stated that he expected up to one million players to access the game on launch day. Further updates on player engagement are anticipated in the coming days as early access continues.