Media: Piranha Bytes exists only on paper, its employees have been fired
Recently, there were rumors that the Embracer Group could close the Piranha Bytes studio, which developed games from the Gothic and ELEX series. Sources of the German edition of GameStar largely confirmed them and shared new details.
Gothic
According to sources, Embracer Group initially did not intend to close Piranha Bytes, but wanted to sell it — along with the rights to the ELEX trademark. The search for a new owner was not successful, so the company reconsidered the decision and in December 2023 began firing studio employees. Due to the peculiarities of German legislation, not all developers have been fired yet, but the process continues.
According to GameStar, today only a legal entity remains from Piranha Bytes. Sources of the publication admit that Embracer Group may continue to use the Piranha Bytes brand and offer dismissed developers a place in its other subsidiaries.
GameStar noted that the closure of Piranha Bytes will not affect the development of the Gothic remake. It is handled by the Spanish studio Alkimia Interactive without the participation of developers from Piranha Bytes.
Publisher THQ Nordic, which includes Piranha Bytes, declined to comment on GameStar rumors about the possible closure of the studio.
Interestingly, on January 17, 2024, information about subsidies in the amount of €3.17 million provided by Piranha Bytes reappeared on the website of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection of Germany (this was noticed by the GamesWirtschaft edition). The data disappeared from the site at the end of 2023, and their loss on the network was cited as one of the arguments for closing the studio. The game that the money was allocated for is now codenamed Currywurst, not WIKI6, but its description has not changed.
