After a 25-year hiatus, Artex, a former German development studio, has been revived as a publisher

In Frankfurt, Germany, a newly formed independent publisher called Artex has been unveiled. This initiative emerges from a previous development entity by the same name, famous for creating the game Ankh: The Tales of Mystery during the late 1990s. The original Artex transitioned into Deck13, first known as TriggerLab in 2001 before rebranding in 2002. The primary aim is to assist independent studios in their formative stages.

Jan Klose, co-founder of Deck13 and Artex, remarks, "In the past, we developed under the Artex name. Now, over 25 years later, our focus is on nurturing promising new studios and start-ups with immense creative potential." According to him, fair collaboration terms and fostering business growth are key priorities in their partnerships. Artex is set to introduce its first projects at Gamescom, among which is the console version of the RPG dungeon crawler, Cralon, developed by Pithead Studio.

Artex's collaborations extend to Sigma Unit, Freedom Burger Games, Borb Games, and others. Pithead Studio came into being last year, founded by Björn Pankratz and Jennifer Pankratz, following the closure of Embracer-owned Piranha Bytes in June 2024.