In late January, German game developer Piranha Bytes let everyone know they were desperately trying to find a new partner for their next game instead of closing.
We haven’t heard any further news for several months. Today, however, Polish website CD Action reports that the studio has closed down at the end of June, which is when funding from parent company Embracer Group dried up for good. According to the report, the game Piranha Bytes had been shopping around was a dark fantasy RPG made with Unreal Engine 5.
Piranha Bytes was founded as an independent studio in 1997. It was subsequently acquired by Phenomedia in 1999 and then by THQ Nordic twenty years later. The studio has always focused on making open world Western-style roleplaying games; its most popular franchise is certainly the first one, Gothic, which has a sizable fanbase waiting for the remake of the first installment (handled by another studio inside THQ Nordic). Later, Piranha Bytes attempted to change settings, first with the Risen trilogy (set in a fantasy world inspired by Mediterranean and Tropics regions rather than the usual northern countries) and later with the science fantasy hybrid Elex and its sequel.
Unfortunately, their most recent games were not quite as successful as Gothic, which led to the shutdown. However, two long-time Piranha Bytes veterans (husband and wife duo Björn and Jennifer Pankratz) have just announced the foundation of a new development team called Studio Pithead, following their departure in late 2023.
According to the message received by German magazines, the couple aims to develop ‘unique and immersive indie games’ that are dark action/adventure titles with horror and RPG elements as well as deep stories. Studio Pithead will work with external partners, though they haven’t found a publisher yet.
Needless to say, with the studio just being founded, we may have to wait a long time – probably until the next console generation, at least.
