The acquisition is the latest move in what has already been a big year for a studio that for the longest time only had one game to its name. It's also not surprising to see Riot try to recreate the success of Minecraft. The now almost 10-year-old title is one of the most popular games in the world at the moment. In 2019, Microsoft said it had 112 monthly active players, making it almost as popular as League of Legends.

It's a smart bet when you consider Microsoft paid $2.5 billion in 2014 to acquire Mojang, Minecraft's developer. There's no guarantee Hytale will become even a fraction as popular as Minecraft. However, judging by the fact Hytale's announcement trailer has 55 million views on YouTube, there's obviously a lot of excitement for the title. We’ll see if Riot’s bet will have paid off sometime in 2021 when Hytale comes out.