After per week of rumors, Embracer-owned studio Piranha Bytes, the developer of the Gothic, Risen, and Elex video games, has acknowledged that it’s in “a tough scenario” however says it is nonetheless looking for a approach ahead for its subsequent challenge. Ought to or not it’s unable to take action, the studio will probably be closed.
Phrase of potential hassle at Piranha Bytes surfaced final week on the Elex 2 subreddit: An admin observed the studio’s subsequent recreation, codenamed WIKI6 and anticipated to be Elex 3, had been faraway from the German authorities’s funding web page.
The Piranha Bytes homepage had additionally been modified to only a studio emblem and tackle, and the previously-active Piranha Bytes YouTube channel hasn’t had a video up to date since November 27, 2023. German gaming web site Gamestar (Google translated) then reported on a number of sources saying the studio was going through closure.
Piranha Bytes has now acknowledged that the scenario is just not good. “Sure, it is true,” the studio stated in a message posted right this moment. “We, Piranha Bytes, are in a tough scenario. There are loads of information about us circulating proper now and that is our reply: Do not write us off but!”
There’s nonetheless no indication as to what the studio’s subsequent challenge is meant to be, nevertheless it sounds prefer it will not be backed by Embracer: “We’re specializing in this aim with all our energy and [will] do no matter it takes to discover a accomplice for this challenge,” the message says.
Piranha Bytes was based in 1997 and developed a fame as a maker of huge, advanced, janky RPGs by the Gothic, Risen, and Elex video games. It was acquired by THQ Nordic, a division of the Embracer Group, in 2019 on the top of the procuring spree that turned Embracer into a real video games trade big.
However Embracer bumped into hassle in 2023 after a $2 billion funding deal fell aside, and the fallout of that collapse has been devastating: Tons of of staff laid off, and a number of studios have been closed over the following months. The wording of Piranha Bytes’ message bears echoes of the scenario at Timesplitters studio Free Radical Design, which was reported to be going through “potential closure” in November 2023.
In the end, that is what occurred: Embracer was unable to discover a purchaser for Free Radical and formally shuttered it in December. Now Piranha Bytes is going through the identical scenario: A consultant stated that if the studio is unable to discover a new accomplice for its subsequent recreation or to maneuver ahead as an indie studio, it is going to be shut down.