Piranha Bytes Reportedly Closed

An article on CD-Action has an unconfirmed report (in Polish) that developer Piranha Bytes shut down at the end of June (thanks NeoGAF via Jim). This appears to be based on a paywalled GameStar article from last week (in German). The rumor is attributed to an employee of the company, and a machine translation of the post suggests this will not be officially announced: "The current CEO of Piranha Bytes, Michael Rueve, has not yet commented on the fate of the company, but according to our information, the studio will most likely not release any official statements, allowing itself to depart peacefully and quietly." A separate post (also in Polish) points to a post on GameStar (also paywalled, also German) announcing Björn Pankratz and Jenny Pankratz are no longer part of Piranha Bytes, where they worked on the Gothic, Risen, and Elex series. It says the couple has formed a new developer called Pithead Studio:
The Gothic chapter is over, there will be no Elex 3 with them: Björn Pankratz and Jennifer Pankratz have started their own business after leaving the apparently closed role-playing game developer Piranha Bytes.

Their new company is called Pithead Studio and there are already initial plans for future games. Important for fans of Elex, Risen and Gothic, in which the two played a leading role as game designers and story writers: The new projects will also contain role-playing elements.
View : : :
5.
 
Re: Piranha Bytes Reportedly Closed
Jul 8, 2024, 13:11
5.
Re: Piranha Bytes Reportedly Closed Jul 8, 2024, 13:11
Jul 8, 2024, 13:11
 
Heart-breaking. Gothic was such an amazing experience. I got my hands on it when it was only available in Germany at the time. An online buddy sent it to me; someone I knew from a very close community on the RebelAct forum for Severance: Blade of Darkness. I even played it in German, there was no other choice. What a fucking relic...

To this day, no other games come close to their version of RPG. Your character's progression was in the form of promotions in the faction of your choice and the new armor that came with it. Your combat progression wasn't just more DPS, but the actual combat stance and animations improved.

I've returned to gaming only a few months ago. This news is a kick in the balls 😭
I thought Hollywood had hit rock buttom. Then this happened.
Date
Subject
Author
3.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
10.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
11.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
13.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
4.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
 5.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
Re: Piranha Bytes Reportedly Closed
6.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
8.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
12.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
14.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
15.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024
16.
Jul 8, 2024Jul 8 2024