Rumor: Embracer Group could close the studio of Gothic and ELEX authors
Last year, Embracer Group began a large-scale restructuring, during which it closed several subsidiaries and made cuts in some others. The gaming community suggests that the German studio Piranha Bytes could also become a "victim" of restructuring.
ELEX II
Users of the World of Players forum noticed that at the end of 2023, all content was removed from the studio's website. Currently, only the Piranha Bytes logo and contact information are located at the address. In addition, the developers have not posted videos on YouTube for more than a month, although they used to release them weekly. In the last video, studio head Björn Pankratz said that he hoped to see the fans in a week, i.e., no changes were planned.
Another argument cited on World of Players is that information about studio subsidies has disappeared from the website of the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection. Recall that in May 2023, the authorities allocated Piranha Bytes €3.17 million to develop a game codenamed WIKI6.
However, all this may just be a coincidence.
Judging by LinkedIn, the studio staff has not been reduced recently. The studio's page indicates that as of January it employs more than 40 people, the same number was in previous months. The employees themselves did not write en masse about layoffs or the disbanding of the studio, and the profile of the same Pankrats says that he continues to head Piranha Bytes.
In addition, the official Piranha Bytes account in X is still active — the last tweet was posted on January 13.
Only the hard ones can withstand the heat.
by "Gvorn666" #ELEX #ScreenshotSaturday #GameDevhttps://t.co/mFlwT8HlIG pic.twitter.com/Sglle9m83P
— Piranha Bytes (@Piranha_Bytes) January 13, 2024
Embracer Group and Piranha Bytes did not comment on the rumors.
