Piranha Bytes

Piranha Bytes is a developer.

Piranha Bytes Webpage, Facebook

Piranha Bytes is a German development studio best known for its action RPG series Gothic and Risen. Located in Essen, in the industrial heartland of Germany known as the Ruhr area, Piranha Bytes was under the direction of Michael Ruve.

The studio, owned by Pluto 13 since 2002, was acquired by THQ Nordic in May 2019. In July 2024, unofficial reports surfaced that the team, having lost financial support from its parent company, was set to be shut down.

Over the years, Piranha Bytes has specialized in developing complex, multi-threaded action RPGs; the company's portfolio consists entirely of titles within this genre. Unlike the studio's first two franchises, Gothic and Risen, which were set in fairly traditional fantasy worlds, Piranha Bytes shifted slightly toward science fiction with its 2017 game Elex, introducing a new post-apocalyptic universe where magic and technology coexist.

History

The Gothic era

The Piranha Bytes studio was established in October 1997, during the development of the first Gothic title, by former Greenwood Entertainment employees Alex Brueggemann, Michael Hoge, Stefan Nyul, and Tom Putzki. In 1999, the studio, which employed around a dozen people, was acquired by the German company Phenomedia AG and remained under its ownership until 2002, when the company went bankrupt following a financial scandal and its management faced legal proceedings. In the meantime, in March 2001, Egmont Interactive released the studio's debut title in the German market - the action RPG Gothic. Several months later, the game expanded to European and American markets, becoming a notable commercial success.

In 2002, Pluto 13 GmbH was founded, with its shareholders being the employees of Piranha Bytes. Even after taking full ownership of the Gothic brand, the company chose to keep the studio's current name, making it its exclusive trademark. The temporary publishing rights to the series were acquired by JoWooD Entertainment, which released the next two installments - Gothic II (2002) and Gothic 3 (2006) - replicating the considerable success of the original game. Piranha Bytes parted ways with JoWooD Entertainment in May 2007. Even though the partnership was briefly renewed a year later, the studio's later titles were published by Deep Silver/Koch Media. The original creators of the series failed to reclaim the rights to Gothic, so the 2007 expansion to the third game and the fourth installment, Arcania: A Gothic Tale, were produced by Trine Game Studios and Spellbound Entertainment, respectively.

The era of Risen

After losing the rights to Gothic, Piranha Bytes introduced a completely new IP, Risen (2009). While it did not surpass the popularity of the earlier series, it received equally positive reviews from both critics and players. In cooperation with Deep Silver/Koch Media, the next installments of the series - Risen 2: Dark Waters (2012) and Risen 3: Titan Lords (2014) - were released. After JoWooD Entertainment went bankrupt in 2011, Piranha Bytes recovered the Gothic rights and signed a distribution deal with Nordic Games (now THQ Nordic), which took over all remaining JoWooD titles. At the time, there was no discussion of continuing this cult series. In mid-2015, the German developer announced that it was working on an entirely new franchise. The project turned out to be the sci-fi RPG Elex.

The rise of Elex

Elex was released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in October 2017. The game was received fairly well by both players and reviewers. Following the game's release, the studio remained quiet until May 2019, when THQ Nordic revealed that it had acquired it, along with the rights to the Gothic, Risen, and Elex franchises from Pluto 13. The new owner chose not to interfere with the team or its work, limiting its role to providing additional funding for new projects.

In the middle of June 2021, Piranha Bytes announced its next project, Elex 2. The title became available on March 1st, 2022, for PC and consoles of the eighth and ninth generations. The game was met with a fairly warm reception, earning Metacritic averages between 64 and 74 out of 100 across different platforms. Players welcomed the title with greater enthusiasm, as shown by its "mostly positive" reviews on Steam. Sadly, it failed to reach the same popularity as its predecessor on the platform, which foreshadowed weaker commercial performance.

In May 2023, it was announced that Piranha Bytes had received €3 million in funding from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs for its next project, codenamed WIKI6. Given that the story started in the first Elex and continued in the second remains unresolved, it seems likely that a third installment is in the works. The release of this mysterious title is scheduled for 2026.

Emerging problems

Unfortunately, in the months that followed, it was obvious that things were not going as the developers had hoped. In January 2024, after several weeks of complete silence from the developers, fans began to suspect that Piranha Bytes was encountering difficulties. Shortly afterward, unofficial reports emerged suggesting that THQ Nordic was considering selling the studio. To make matters worse, Bjorn Pankratz - the creative director and a member of the team since the Gothic era - was also said to have left. On the other hand, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs confirmed that WIKI6 had been renamed Currywurst and was still in development.

A few days later, Piranha Bytes broke its silence, admitting that the studio was in a difficult situation. At the same time, the team reassured players that they were doing everything possible to turn things around and were looking for a partner to support their upcoming projects. Although nothing was said outright, it appeared that Piranha Bytes and THQ Nordic were preparing to go their separate ways.

A quiet, sad ending?

Unfortunately, in July 2024, unofficial reports emerged that Piranha Bytes had been closed. According to a company employee, CD-Action reported that the studio had closed at the end of June. While it seemed the team could survive with periodic support from investors, time ran out, and when Embracer Group's funds were gone, the studio was forced to shut down.

On the same day, Bjorn and Jenny Pankratz, former leaders of Piranha Bytes, announced they had started a new company. The goal of Pithead Studio was to produce smaller, yet "bolder and richer" titles that mixed RPG and horror elements with deep narratives.