After years in development and a temporary cancellation, blocky sandbox RPG Hytale is hurtling toward an early access release sooner than anyone could've anticipated on January 13, 2026. But the Minecraft-like's Early Access version is avoiding Steam for now, mainly because the team doesn't want to reckon with negative reviews from players unprepared for the state of the game. That comes courtesy of Hytale's FAQ page, penned by the game's executive director, Patrick 'Lyall' Derbic, who explained the game will "not initially" hit Valve's storefront - you know, the biggest PC games store in the world. The team isn't too fussed about missing out on the majority of PC players at this stage, though. "We want to spend our time in Early Access working with the community and improving the game, rather than overindexing on negative reviews from players that aren't as well-informed yet about what we are doing," Derbic wrote. "Steam is a great marketing tool but one that we might never need. This doesn't mean we will never be on Steam - just that we do not see the necessity of it yet." Hytale's returning owner has hatched a genuinely ingenious marketing strategy: repeatedly telling everyone the game "isn't good," but like, only for now Hytale early access release date set for January 2026 just weeks after it's reacquired by original founders, following 5 years and cancellation at Riot: "If you don’t feel comfortable pre-ordering, please don't" 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" To quickly catch everyone up, Riot Games binned Hytale earlier this summer before original owner Simon Collins-Laflamme bought back the rights and swiftly restarted development using a much older build. He's repeatedly warned folks that the game is in a pretty rough state for now since the team's main priority is to get something playable out the door and start gathering feedback, so, like, temper your expectations. I'm guessing the team's hesitation toward a Steam release probably stems from the fact that Hytale might not be too great at launch, and casual buyers who jump in looking for a Minecraft remix without knowing the full context could be left disappointed. We'll see how it fares next month/year. 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."