Network - Hypixel Bedrock Edition (2023)

Overview

If you are an OG Hypixel player, you may remember Hypixel’s Pocket Edition Project named BladeStorm. While this project has ceased development so the team can focus on the Java server, they still left the door open for a return. With the release of PS4 cross-play in December and the increasing amount of players on the platform, I think now is an appropriate time to revisit the idea.

Bedrock Market

Majority of Minecraft players play on the Bedrock edition of Minecraft. Since BladeStorm, Bedrock edition has seen immense growth with crossplay across mobile, console, PC, and VR.

According to Mojang’s graph from 2016, Minecraft’s best selling platforms are Pocket Edition/Windows 10 and Consoles. Keep in mind this was when 100 million copies of the game were sold, now its 200 million 5 years later. The difference between the two versions is much larger now, with Bedrock boasting much of the Minecraft community base. Hypixel is missing out on the largest market of Minecraft. Plus there is already a demand for Hypixel and their minigames. A great example is Nether Games, a network who mirrored Hypixel by copying many features and maps. They grew large and reached player counts of over 2,000+ players in just a few months just for the Hypixel like gameplay. Other featured servers, notably the Hive and Cubecraft reach player counts of over 50,000 players and are increasing every day. They are hosting a similar game selection to Hypixel, allowing for Hypixel to fit right in.

Games

Bedrock hosts a much younger audience compared to Java Edition. Children ages 6 and up generally play Bedrock. With such a young age range and variety of devices they could play on. Deciding what games and features should be added should reflect the players who will play them.

Skywars

Why?: Skywars was one of the games featured on the public alpha test on BladeStorm and I think is a great game to make a return. Skywars is in high demand since the release of Hive’s version and is one of the top played games across many servers.

Bedwars

Why?: Bedwars is definitely a game that should be added, considering its popularity on the Hypixel network and the amount of players playing similar games on Bedrock.

Build Battle

Why?: Because of the young player base, many players aren’t good at PvP and furthermore are on mobile where PvP is at a disadvantage. This game is already very popular on many other servers considering younger players enjoy building.

Arcade Games(Party Games, Hypixel Says, etc.)

Why? Because of the young player base, many players aren’t good at PvP and furthermore are on mobile where PvP is at a disadvantage. These games allow for young players and mobile players to easily find games that are fun to play and easy to play.

Housing

Why? Housing is a must have for Bedrock. Housing is already shown to be popular on Mineplex’s bedrock server but is in bad shape. Due to the young playerbase, these players tend to enjoy roleplaying, building, and parkour.

Skyblock

Why? Skyblock is currently one of the largest wants in the Bedrock community considering the rise of Hypixel Skyblock on Java and the new amounts of content being made on it. Many marketplace creators create skyblock based maps and Hypixel’s twist to Skyblock would be a very popular addition to the network.

While I feel like these games are essential, other games will also tend to work well on Bedrock. I think all games currently on Hypixel except for, Cops and Crims and UHC would work well. The problem with UHC is the longevity of the game, while many players in the Bedrock community want this, many players won’t have the patience to play till the end. Games on Bedrock tend to be shorter as younger audience have shorter attention spans. Cops and Crims may be against the policy of Microsoft for featured servers and includes heavily textured things which is hard for Bedrock.

Game Development

Over the years with many servers taking advantage of this new market, many tools have been easily available. Including a version of Bukkit built for Bedrock. This allows many games and plugins to easily be ported to Bedrock with only slight modifications. Plugins are easily more maintainable considering that most players on Bedrock play on the latest version of the game(due to not being able to easily downgrade) preventing the cost of maintaining games to work in older versions of the game.

A lot of concerns were raised by the Hypixel team in a previous post but most if not all were resolved. Authenticated User Accounts, Resource Packs, Scoreboards, Item Data were all added since then. Because of the Microsoft Account sign-in requirement, it is an easy way to ensure players are using a valid version of the game and have stats assigned to it. Monetization has been solved with the addition of the Minecraft Marketplace and the use of Minecoins, more details on monetization in another section. Another concern raised by the team was the cost of running servers. While software may change, Hive recently found out that the cost of running their Bedrock edition server of 30,000 players cost less than the running of their Java server of 3,000 players.

Monetization

Monetization is a key part of creating a sustainable business and server. Especially important in the investment and creation of a new server. Monetization would be done through the Minecraft Marketplace using Minecoins. Since this is through the marketplace, there are certain policies which must be followed. This includes prohibiting Gambling/Luck based payments like Mystery Boxes and Loot Crates. However this could easily be replaced by selling each cosmetic individually. A great way to sell cosmetics is to have a rotating store showcasing different cosmetics every week. They would return at a later unknown date making players more willing to purchase before it goes off sale. Monetization other than that would be similar to Java with ranks, Housing furniture, etc.

Player Retention / Long-term Growth

One of the main reasons, Hypixel has succeeded over the years was the quality and thought put into their games. A lot of effort has been put in to make these games easily playable and kept interesting long term. The main difference between Hypixel and other servers is how they attempt to keep players long-term. By offering purchases to upgrade skills and other perks using coins earned by playing, allows for players to become more easily invested in the game. The more players play and upgrade their skills, the more invested they are and less likely to want to play on another server. Most other servers, including Bedrock ones, don't use this key principal in player retention and keeping with this strategy will ensure long-term growth for Hypixel Bedrock Edition.

What did you think?

I'd love to know what you thought about the idea of bringing back a Bedrock version of the game. As creating an entire new network is a big task, I couldn't possibly include everything needed in this thread. Easily I could have expanded on any one of these topics and will continue to add on to this thread in the future. If you have any questions, or think I left out something feel free to leave a comment below. While I can't reply to every reply, I will be able to answer most questions.