Rumours About the Closure of Piranha Bytes Are Intensifying - Update

Although Piranha Bytes showed fighting spirit with its last announcement in January, things are looking increasingly bleak for the studio known for Gothic, Risen and Elex. Rumours of closure are growing louder.

News-Update: 09 July, 10:37

The closure of Piranha Bytes is becoming more and more likely. Björn and Jennifer Pankratz, who worked at Piranha Bytes for a long time and have now founded Pithead Studio (GamesMarkt reported), answered the question "What happened to Piranha Bytes?" on their Discord server as follows: "As you sure noticed, the gaming industry was not doing well last year. This was also the case for the Embracer Group, to which THQ Nordic and Piranha Bytes belong. A lot of studios had to close, thousands of people in the gaming industry worldwide lost their jobs. Sadly, Piranha Bytes was also affected by this. Although we are very sad about this, we decided after much deliberation, to make a fresh start and found a new company to continue developing computer games that we can share with you."

As far as they know, THQ Nordic owns the Gothic, Risen and Elex brands, as well as the Piranha Bytes brand. Alkimia Interactive from Spain is working on the remake of the first Gothic game. "We are not included in the making of the remake in any form, and therefore have no influence on it," says Pithead.

Original News: 08 July, 16:14

The rumours about the possible closure of Piranha Bytes continue to grow. In addition to the announcement of a new studio by Björn and Jennifer Pankratz, who both worked for Piranha Bytes for many years, a report in the Polish online magazine CD Action is making waves. The magazine quotes an internal source claiming that Piranha Bytes ceased operations at the end of June. This still unconfirmed report is accompanied by two pictures of the Piranha Bytes offices, which are largely empty and cleared out. At least the authenticity of the pictures and the location have been confirmed in the WoG forums. The search for investors has failed. There were interested companies, it is said, but the buyout did not materialise.

This is further backed up by the fact that official Piranha Bytes contacts did not respond to a request. And in popular career networks, the phrase "Open to work" is increasingly appearing for Piranha Bytes employees.

Just recently, at the beginning of June, the company's address was changed (from Essen to Gladbeck). The new location is also home to regioconnect GmbH, Spacetime Productions UG & Co. KG, Gladbeck, and Piranha Bytes Real Estate GmbH, all of which are managed by Michael Rüve jr., who is also managing director/CEO of Piranha Bytes (mainly responsible for finance and legal).

Piranha Bytes was founded in 1997 and was known for the Gothic, Risen and Elex franchises. The company, based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, issued a statement in January 2024 confirming that it was in a "difficult situation". According to the statement, the company should not be written off just yet. But things are looking increasingly bleak for the company. However, an official statement from Piranha Bytes has yet to be made, if there is one at all, which is unlikely.

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