Summary
Piranha Bytesis on the verge of closure, several industry sources have said. Currently owned by the Embracer Group subsidiary THQ Nordic, the celebrated RPG developer has been in business for nearly three decades.
Founded in 1997, the Essen, Germany-based studio is best known as the developer behind the iconicGothicRPGs, as well as theRisenseries. The studio has been focused on theElexfranchise over the past decade. WhilePiranha Bytes' gamesnever achieved truly mainstream popularity, in part because their lack of polish made them an acquired taste of sorts, they have long been touted as some of the most inventive takes on the role-playing genre.
The studio may not get any more chances to add to its legacy, with the German video game podcastThe Podreporting that Piranha Bytes is currently on the verge of closure, citing sources familiar with the matter. The claim was independently verified by the Munich-based outlet GameStar, which has also discovered that the German government recently removed WIKI6—widely believed to be the codename forElex 3—from its list of game development projects that received public funding. For clarity, WIKI6 was awarded €3 million in funding in 2023.
2001
2002
2003
Gothic 2: Night of the Raven
2006
2009
2012
2014
2017
2022
Elex 2
PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
GameStar’s sources claim thatEmbracer’s cost-cutting effortssaw the company spend months trying to offload Piranha Bytes last year. After being unable to find a buyer for the studio, the Swedish gaming giant effectively disbanded its 30-something staff at the end of 2023. While the company itself still formally exists and Embracer continues to shop it around, all work on WIKI6 has been stopped as of early 2024, as per the same source. Germany’s dismissal protections that prevent employers from laying off employees with no notice are plausibly the chief reason why Piranha Bytes remains operational, if only on paper.
Gothic Remake Remains on Course To Release in 2024
The studio’s purported difficulties should not have a material impact on the fate of theGothicremake, which is being handled by Barcelona-based Alkimia Interactive, another THQ Nordic subsidiary. While that project—started in early 2020—is still without an official release date, Alkimia recently said thattheGothicremake is targeting a 2024 release.
Piranha Bytes Closures Would Be an End of an Era for RPG Fans
The potential closure of Piranha Bytes would likely spell the end to its brand of RPGs, known for their hand-crafted and incredibly reactive worlds with dark and intoxicating atmospheres, as well as meaningful choices.The originalGothicis widely touted as a particularly groundbreaking game that was the first to forfeit the numbers-go-up approach to leveling in favor of a more immersive system that provided players with an opportunity to learn new combat animations as they get better at wielding a particular class of weapons, among other innovations. AlthoughElex 2wasn’t as well-received as the studio’s past games, it still continued that design philosophy that now appears to be facing extinction.
