German developer Piranha Bytes is the latest studio to close under Embracer, and it is best known for RPGs like Gothic, ELEX, and Risen. The closure comes less than six months after the studio took to Twitter to seek a publisher for its next title as it worked through a "difficult situation".
First reported by Polish-language gaming site CD Action (thanks, PC Gamer), the outlet quoted a former employee saying the studio had closed at the end of July, with Embracer unable to find a buyer. Shortly after that, former Piranha Bytes creative director Bjorn Pankratz, along with his wife and fellow studio veteran Jeniffer Pankratz, announced the launch of a new indie initiative called Pithead Studio.
In a message posted to the Pithead Studio Discord, further information can be gleaned: "As you sure noticed, the gaming industry was not doing well last year. This was also the case for the Embracer Group, to which THQ Nordic and Piranha Bytes belong. A lot of studios had to close, and thousands of people in the gaming industry worldwide lost their jobs. Sadly, Piranha Bytes was also affected by this." In a separate message, it is noted that Gothic, ELEX, and Risen remain the property of THQ Nordic, the Embracer label under which Piranha Bytes operated.
Are you surprised to see the Embracer closure train keep on rolling some seven months into 2024? In the comments section below, pour one out for Piranha Bytes.
[source cdaction.pl, via pcgamer.com]
Comments 26
It sad that people are losing their job, but nothing of value was really lost...
@zhoont Good catch, updated
Embracer is a cancer.
Another victim of Embracer :/
Embracer: We hate video games so we're going to buy as many studios as possible just to close them down and prevent them from making more of them.
That is sad, I really liked their particular brand of Eurojank.
@AverageGamer Agreed. Embracer is a terrible company that should never have been given the chance to own all these companies and IPs but Piranha Bytes closing is not a big deal as their games were bad.
I'm suprised it actually managed to survive this long in the first place given the poor quality of their games.
Aww man I hate this. Piranha Bites were delivering that low-budget goodness with their games. F U embracer.
Embracer is worse then EA.
Number one mismanagement in gaming history: Embracer group. I wonder how their employees feel at the moment with all these awful decisions that top stupid few make for them
Embracer already axed timesplitters and deus ex I cannot become angrier than I already am.
@TruestoryYep Yeah. I enjoy Eurojank as much as the next guy, and they were kings of Eurojank. But I never understood how they survived a day past Gothic.
Give it a day, and most people won't even remember this studio once the news articles are over.
Well, folks wanted the next game industry crash and here we are lamenting the loss of loved Studios and people's livelihoods.
I think we might see even more if this year ends on a whimper
That's a shame. Their games were janky, but their world building was really good.
Man, this is super sad. Prime Eurojank in the best possible way, and their IP is retained by that sh*tstorm too.
We've discussed this before but there is no longer space for studios that make good but janky games. Games can only be addictive or truly polished/excellent or be a major existing IP or Studio.
The 7/10 studios will be the major ones that suffer throughout the next few years. Especially since every month sees at least 3 major, well received (84+) titles come out ensuring that the only way you find a market in the short period of time is to get lucky with YouTube/Twitch.
such a shame. btw anyone know why risen 1 remaster wasn't released in australia? i would've supported it.
I'm sorry they lost their jobs but their games weren't very good, in my opinion.
RIP Piranha Bytes. As janky as their games were they had a lot of charm and cool about them. So for their next game or whatever else unfortunate state of them.
Surprised that some AAs just don't have a publisher wanting to support them, why? Too ambitious? Too costly? No interest because they don't make trending safe games yet we see some European publishers just having awkward games repackaging being dodgey, as if I don't notice for some games physical Switch carts and Definitive editions but reselling them as digital codes.
Or whatever other reasons there are? Very unfortunate. Hope Piranha Bytes staff do well from this, forming new studios or finding other jobs. They will be remembered for sure.
The publisher also owning their IPs sigh, not surprised there either.
I assume Gothic remaster happened?
I really enjoyed Elex II, yes it had its problems but the world was good and I ended up going for the platinum. Not pretty games but there was definitely something there.
@breakneck One of the biggest factor that leads us to this situation is game journalist. A lot of game journalist has skills issues and keeps campaigning for AAA games over AA games. Just look at how the amazing God Hand got 3/10 by IGN. Or Medievil remake got 5/10 from Gamespot and 6.5/10 from IGN just because Sir Daniel Fortesque doesn't control and play like Ryu Hayabusha. Or how Gungrave GORE got destroyed in the review just because it doesn't hold hands and offer tight & challenging gameplay over cinematic cutscenes or exploration.
And what even worst is many gamers believe these reviews and it affected AA games sales.
Well to be fair this probably isn't a bad closure, look at the junk this company made, and considering their record i doubt anything good would have come from them.
Yeah it is sad to see that embracer still a rolling train of devastation, but the general term remains...if your bad at your job, your gone
I hope that they're just re-hiring the team with the new studio because that team is responsible for come S-tier AA Jank.
Embracer continues to be an utter failure instead of a steady, balanced revenue earner.
Is it me or does feel like Embracer have gone in and just destroyed the gaming industry based on the back of getting a money deal with the Saudis. Surly this should have been a warning if that's basically were the money was in the first place.
It's feels like they lied about their profits and money they had in order to buy these studios with no way to actually run them unless they got that deal.
@Uromastryx I kind of agree. They took 5 years to develop Elex 2, and it was a major downgrade on almost all fronts. I didn´t especially like Elex 1 either, so that doesn´t help
Hate that these people lost their jobs, but there games always felt clunky, cheap, and dated.
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