Recently, there has been speculation on the internet about the potential shutdown of Piranha Bytes, the developers behind the Gothic, Risen and Elex franchises.
Fans noticed that the studio’s website was practically inactive, leading to concerns. Some speculated that Piranha Bytes might be another casualty in the ongoing restructuring of studios under the ownership of Embracer Group.
This restructuring began last year following the cancellation of a planned $2 billion deal with Savvy Games Group, backed by Saudi Arabia, in 2023 which reportedly fell through the cracks due to large investments and piss poor returns on games, namely those associated with either Gearbox Software and Volition who has since been shut down following the disastrously woke Saints Row Reboot.
Several German sources proclaimed that Piranha Bytes, the once legendary developers innovating amongst the RPG genre have been looking for a new publisher or potential buyer following a mandated closure by the Embracer Group back in November 2023.
As reported by sources from the gaming podcast “The Pod,” all employees at Piranha Bytes were allegedly terminated in December 2023. Furthermore, the lead game designer, Björn Pankratz, had departed from the studio in November.
Björn Pankratz was an infamous figure for the small German outfit, he was a founding member and shareholder of Pluto 13 GmbH, formed in 2002. His contributions extended to all subsequent companies affiliated with Piranha Bytes until their acquisition by THQ Nordic in 2019.
With roles as a game designer and storywriter, Pankratz significantly influenced the Gothic, Risen, and ELEX series. From Gothic II onward, he also assumed the position of project manager. In addition to his creative roles, he actively participated as a sound designer and composer for Gothic I and the ELEX series.
It would seem that the studio itself was initially canned as a whole by Embracer however the team itself has at least convinced their THQ Nordic handlers for some time to strike a deal with a new publisher and or so that their next project currently in development doesn’t simply get shelved along with the studio as a whole.
Proclaiming fans to “don’t write us off yet” while proclaiming at they are in a “difficult situation” obviously means that the clock is ticking for Pirahna Bytes which to me personally tugs at the heart strings because once upon a time this small German development studio where at the very pinnacle of western RPG development with the Gothic franchise.
They’ve always had such a turbulent history, the creators of the Gothic IP essentially had it stolen by their publishers, JoWooD, dooming the franchise as a whole with outsourced failures in the form of the unfinished Gothic 3 and the unspoken release of Gothic 4 aka Arcania.
JoWooD was bought out by Nordic who eventually became THQ Nordic, now owned by the Embracer Group, who similarly enough bought out Piranha Bytes back in 2019.
You’d imagine that the wise executives at Embracer / THQ Nordic would relegate the founder and creator of the Gothic IP to do something with the franchise, but no. That would be preposterous wishful thinking.
Which is why THQ Nordic have assigned a newly created Spanish outfit (Alkimia Interactive) to develop the bound to be rubbish remake of Gothic 1. Despite having the franchise and its original developers under lock and key.
Their games may have gone downhill since the introduction of the ELEX franchise, however Piranha Bytes don’t deserve such a fate. Originally established back in 1997, they were bought out by Phenomedia in 1999 who then went bankrupt in 2002.
Piranha Bytes management saved the studio by buying it back outright, where they gained independence until being acquired by THQ Nordic / Embracer, again throughout this timeframe they had their magnum opus, Gothic stolen from underneath them by a greedy cancerous publisher, where they went on to create a spiritual continuation of the Gothic franchise in the form of Risen.
And once again they find themselves in disarray by the hands of an incompetent owner who failed to utilize them effectively. The studio behind some of the best western developed RPGs of all time, far superior to the likes of Bethesda in my own opinion could very well be killed off for good after 26 years in the industry.
And with their demise the Gothic IP remains firmly in the possession of THQ Nordic who certainly intend to bastardize it with the aforementioned Gothic Remake where its failure will undoubtedly kill the franchise off entirely for a second time.
Following Embracer’s inability to secure a buyer for Free Radical, leading to its official closure in December, Piranha Bytes now faces a similar predicament and given the current climate of the video games industry I genuinely doubt someone is going to swoop in and salvage this diamond in the rough, outside of the likes of Tencent and or Microsoft which is more than likely a fate worse than death.
