Did the sharks of business eat Piranha? Embracer Group holding may have closed Piranha Bytes studio - the author of Gothic, Risen and Elex
The Embracer Group holding company continues to reorganise its business, which is accompanied by the closure of internal studios and the dismissal of a large number of employees.
Probably, the next victim of the Swedish company will be the German studio Piranha Bytes.
Here's What We Know
There are reasonable assumptions that Embracer Group has closed Piranha Bytes - the author of the famous role-playing games Gothic, Risen and Elex.
This is indicated by several factors at once:
- Piranha Bytes' website is no longer available. except for the company's logo.
- On the studio's YouTube channel, the last video was released in November and in it the head of the studio promised a meeting in a week, but the follow-up meeting never took place.
- The studio's last game Elex II was released in 2022 and turned out to be a complete disappointment for fans of Piranha Bytes games.
One more point cannot be considered as a proof of studio closure, but it can be assumed that the developers of Gothic remake from Alkimia Interactive studio showed their professionalism and Embracer Group management could consider it appropriate to allocate more resources to them and close the company, which hasn't produced high quality games for a long time. From the business point of view it would be quite a logical and reasonable step.
If the closure of Piranha Bytes studio really happened, we will soon find out about it officially.
Source: Piranha Bytes
