After a recent surge in excitemnet about whether Eric Barone, aka ConcernedApe, might step in to save Hytale, Barone himself has spoken up again to set the record straight: He’s not actively chasing down a Hytale revival, but he’s also not completely shutting the door in case something ever did land in his inbox.
“I’m not actively doing anything to make this happen,” Barone tells PCGamer, putting the brakes on the rumours before they can pick up too much speed. “If something were presented to me, I would be open to entertaining the idea, that’s all.”
He adds, “It’s not something I am thinking about too much since I’m focused on working on my next game.” That game, of course, is Haunted Chocolatier, which seems to be taking up pretty much all of this attention these days (understandably).
It’s easy to see why people got excited about the idea, though. When news hit that Hytale was cancelled, there was a wave of disappointment from Minecraft and Stardew fans alike. That’s why heads turned when Barone initially said he could “possibly” step in to save Hytale, but he’d need to know “why it failed” first.
So, in short, Eric Barone isn’t plotting a Hytale rescue. He’s focused on being digital Willy Wonka and satisfying sweet-toothed gamers with his own game. And while he’s not totally ruling out the idea, and it’s fun to imagine the Stardew Valley creator lending his magical touch to Hytale, it sounds like this one rumour we can let go of for now. Wishful thinking, I suppose.
