Hytale lead won’t put Minecraft competitor on Steam at launch: “Everything is wrong” — Palworld lead “totally” understands

After reclaiming Hytale’s rights from Riot Games, creator Simon Collins-Laflamme explained why the game won’t appear on Steam at launch: he says the title is currently in a poor state and he’s being frank about it. John “Bucky” Buckley, designer of Palworld and a manager at Pocketpair Publishing, publicly backed that decision and said he completely understands the developer’s reasoning.

Riot shelved the Minecraft-inspired sandbox earlier this year, then agreed to transfer the IP back to Collins-Laflamme so the project could continue. The studio pulled the plug before Hytale was finished, and the developer who bought it acknowledged there’s a substantial amount of development work ahead.

Rather than launching on Steam — the largest PC storefront many developers use for early access — the Hytale team has opted to avoid Valve’s platform to reduce the risk of harsh reviews and player churn before the game is ready. As Collins-Laflamme put it in response to a critic, “everything is wrong with the game, literally why I’m not putting it up on Steam brother.”

It’s a really hard decision to make, but I totally get where Simon is coming from. The reality is, a majority of gamers on Steam play the game once, review it and then never look back. You have to be pretty confident with the state of the game before pressing that “Publish”! https://t.co/5b7Jhk0glhDecember 5, 2025

Palworld’s Bucky echoed the developer’s concerns, writing that he understands the difficult call. He pointed out that many Steam players try a game once, leave a review, and rarely return, so developers should be certain of the product’s condition before hitting “publish.”

Collins-Laflamme replied that he’s simply being candid and voicing concerns he believes many other developers share.

Bucky reiterated his support, adding that while honesty may hurt in the short term, it will pay off over time. He predicts that transparency will endear the team to players and build long-term goodwill. Hytale still has a long path toward polish, but the developer and community will be working on it together.

Minecraft lead says “I’m looking forward to Hytale” personally, but tells curious fans “there are many Minecraft-like games, so I doubt it will change much for us.”