Piranha Bytes is closed: another source has confirmed the end of the long-running Gothic, Risen and Elex developer's story

Back in January, the first information appeared that Embracer Group holding company is closing the famous German studio Piranha Bytes - the author of famous RPGs Gothic, Risen and Elex.

Almost immediately this information was confirmed by sources of the German edition GameStar.

Developers from Piranha Bytes in January 2024 published a message that they are really in a difficult situation, but do not give up and plan to find new partners for the development of the next game.

Well, it seems that they failed to find partners.

Here's What We Know

An anonymous source of Polish portal CD-Action reported that Piranha Bytes is still closed, and it happened in June. As confirmation, he shared photos of the studio's office, which is clearly at the stage of packing.

The insider noted that the developers had plans to agree on an investment of 3 million euros and create a role-playing game on a new universe on Unreal Engine 5. But the negotiations failed, and the Embracer Group funding was only enough until June.

Well, it's a sad but natural outcome, because Embracer Group was undergoing a large-scale restructuring for a long time, as a result of which a number of internal studios were closed, and many employees were left without jobs, and the quality of Piranha Bytes games in recent years left much to be desired. The failure of Elex 2 was the German studio's last stand.

Source: CD-Action