Latest update that I found on reddit from 4 months ago: (if anyone has anything more recent, please feel free to share it) "Björn Pankratz already left the studio last year due to differences with the team (The team wanted to make a new Gothic game, but Björn wasn't open to the idea because he had mentally moved on, as Elex was his new baby.) Piranha Bytes is on the verge of closure after 25+ years (the process has probably been running since November 2023). The reason is the drastic cost-cutting course of the Embracer Group. Any game in an early stage of development where it is unclear whether it will be profitable upon release will be canceled. THQ Nordic is not to blame. They have stood up for Piranha Bytes against the Embracer Group There is currently a grace period from the Embracer Group, which gives the team the opportunity to pitch Elex 3 to other publishers (Gamepodcast.de doesn't think there's much of a chance due to the financial failure of Elex 2) All staff has already been laid off (Gamepodcast.de has seen the termination letter) Many things are still unclear (e.g. the question of whether Piranha Bytes will be allowed to keep the rights to the Elex series or if the studio can keep the German government fund of ~3M €)"
Risen was the first PB game I played and I loved it. I just wish they could have done a better job with the sequels. I have the Gothic trilogy but haven't played through any of them completely. Hopefully I'll get around to it eventually.
Naturally if you are able to look past the age of the game, Gothic 1 would be the best place to start. Otherwise Gothic 2 is the best game they made in my opinion, better than Risen. The controls take a minute to get used to and if you start with NOTR, there will also be a learning curve (it can be horribly brutal to new players and some planning may be required for optimal builds). Gothic 2 is still one of my favourite rpgs, even when more modern rpgs are taking into consideration. I hope you will have the chance to try it someday :)
Risen was fantastic after some disappointment around the later Gothic releases. Unfortunately, they basically did this with all their series. Strong first titles and then the sequels were rushed, not polished/optimised - Gothic II notwithstanding.
The Gophic games were all good and so was Risen 1, but the rest is bad, especially ELEX. The studio dug its own grave years ago when they decided to make an IP that nobody asked for.
As for ELEX 2 being the best selling game on GOG -- maybe people did what I have. I did not like ELEX one bit (more to the point: the combat system), but I bought the second game on GOG to support Pyranha Bytes. I never even installed it, because I couldn't live with the thought of playing the second game when I did give the first game so many attempts, and just failed, utterly, because the fighting in ELEX was just stupidly difficult to control. I gave up on ELEX.
I still haven't bought the second Elex game because I had doubts and wanted to give them time to fix any bugs and issues. I would've eventually bought it to support them if nothing else but now I guess 100% of proceeds would go to THQ seeing as they fired the whole of PB I assume so I guess I'll rather pick it up dirt cheap on sale in future. Elex 1 really wasn't bad though, I was able to look past the jankiness and combat and enjoy the playthrough I had for what it was and I would still recommend the game, especially to PB fans. What faction did you go for in Elex if you recall? Maybe that had a more negative effect on combat for you?
Are you aware of the new indie game Drova? Alot of people are comparing it to the gothic series. I´ve put it on my steam wishlist and intend to play it eventually.
I played pretty much all their games and sure hope they pull through but it feels like most if not all key people already left. Still sad to see another german developer die.
I agree, I want to be hopeful but it was a gut-wrenching feeling when I found out. I'll post the latest update I could find but it has been absolute silence otherwise for the last couple months, which can't be good 😔
Yeah, what is actually going on with PB now? Last I heard they sent a twitter message, pleading to their audiences that they weren't dead. Yet. That was literally their last sign of life and since then, nothing, it's just silence, and I'm really not liking month after month after month of not knowing if they're gonna be fine or if they're really gone for good.
There's been absolutely nothing for the past few months, the update I shared above was the most recent I could find from reddit fans. Although I still have a tiny bit of hope left, realistically Piranha Bytes probably now only exists on paper and it is almost impossible that a buyer will be found for the developer. I hope I'm wrong but if I find out anything further that is confirmed then I will post that update 😔
Piranha Bytes is now officially no more and is completely closed, but there is a new studio that has been started and will hopefully continue the passion and spirit of PB : ua-cam.com/video/mm6Evk2puTY/v-deo.html
I'm a Gothic fan, so I also had a lot of love for the creators, but now I know that the case of Piranha Bytes is not a story about a bad publisher and innocent developers. For years, the team had made one bad decision after another. They released half-baked, unfinished games and abandoned them in that state. They changed the style of a series of games within one IP address, as if they were overcome by creative schizophrenia, as if they didn't know what game they wanted to make for what audience. I have the impression that they still have not understood what made Gothic so unique, what was the greatest value of their magmum opus. They got lost in their search for commercial success.
I personally didn't think Elex was bad though, certainly not perfect. It felt like more of a step in the right direction after Risen but there was clearly creative differences in direction with the developer and some of the team wanted to do another Gothic game instead of completing the Elex trilogy. Of course mine (and sounds like yours especially) preference would've been Gothic because the newer generation has no idea what an amazing game it was and there is so much potential there and I would love for them to experience what I experienced when I first played Gothic 1 and 2 (and even 3 was fair), so many years back as a teenager.
I've never played any of Piranha Bytes' games, but it seems like a real shame they shut down! I hope you and their other fans can find something else that fills their niche.
I think its one of those things that's more special because I was exposed to Gothic growing up, so I tend to be particularly more obsessive about this game series compared to other RPG series. But hopefully the remake (being made by Alkimia Interactive) can hopefully bring this really cool game universe to new players so more people can see it the way I (any many long term fans) do. Maybe we're lucky and it becomes as popular as games like Skyrim. If you like slightly punishing games which great music and atmosphere, it is certainly worth a try. The controls are a bit of a challenge to get used to initially but it hasn't aged too badly. I replayed Gothic 2 NOTR without any mods the other day and it is still perfection even by today's standards. Gothic 1 and 2 are the best for me out of their releases.
I remember SimCity, its been ages since I touched it (the original not the disastrous reboot). There's probably no game genre I wouldn't try although sports games would probably be at the bottom. I also tried to play The Sims 4 once and got rather bored but perhaps didn't give it enough of a shot but city management games are way more fun anyway
@@Dr_uberbabe If you're referring to SimCtiy Societies that came out in 2007, yeah I definitely heard bad things about it. I never played it myself. The SimCity game that came out in 2013, I think it was better, but there were still a lot of issues, including small building areas and the need wait to log into a server even for single-player. Luckily a game called Cities: Skylines came out after that, and in many ways it was a spiritual successor to the SimCity franchise and was a great game! It now has a sequel (CS2), though I heard there are issues with it.
The 2013 SimCity had a disastrous launch (I haven't played it myself) that was so unplayable and broken it caused poor sales and led the the closure of the developer. I got Cities Skylines for free on Epic a while ago, been meaning to play it! On my super long to-do list :)
Piranha Bytes is now officially no more, but a new studio emerges: ua-cam.com/video/mm6Evk2puTY/v-deo.html
Latest update that I found on reddit from 4 months ago: (if anyone has anything more recent, please feel free to share it)
"Björn Pankratz already left the studio last year due to differences with the team (The team wanted to make a new Gothic game, but Björn wasn't open to the idea because he had mentally moved on, as Elex was his new baby.)
Piranha Bytes is on the verge of closure after 25+ years (the process has probably been running since November 2023). The reason is the drastic cost-cutting course of the Embracer Group. Any game in an early stage of development where it is unclear whether it will be profitable upon release will be canceled.
THQ Nordic is not to blame. They have stood up for Piranha Bytes against the Embracer Group
There is currently a grace period from the Embracer Group, which gives the team the opportunity to pitch Elex 3 to other publishers (Gamepodcast.de doesn't think there's much of a chance due to the financial failure of Elex 2)
All staff has already been laid off (Gamepodcast.de has seen the termination letter)
Many things are still unclear (e.g. the question of whether Piranha Bytes will be allowed to keep the rights to the Elex series or if the studio can keep the German government fund of ~3M €)"
Risen was the first PB game I played and I loved it. I just wish they could have done a better job with the sequels. I have the Gothic trilogy but haven't played through any of them completely. Hopefully I'll get around to it eventually.
Naturally if you are able to look past the age of the game, Gothic 1 would be the best place to start. Otherwise Gothic 2 is the best game they made in my opinion, better than Risen. The controls take a minute to get used to and if you start with NOTR, there will also be a learning curve (it can be horribly brutal to new players and some planning may be required for optimal builds). Gothic 2 is still one of my favourite rpgs, even when more modern rpgs are taking into consideration. I hope you will have the chance to try it someday :)
Risen was fantastic after some disappointment around the later Gothic releases. Unfortunately, they basically did this with all their series. Strong first titles and then the sequels were rushed, not polished/optimised - Gothic II notwithstanding.
What was your favourite PB game experience? I'm interested to hear other people's thoughts 😀
Gothic 2: Night of the Raven
I wasn't convinced about such games. Gothic 1 and Gothic 2 are unique. Wonderful memories.
@@nerine4188 Same 😄
Risen 2
Gothic Gothic uber alles! 😁
The Gophic games were all good and so was Risen 1, but the rest is bad, especially ELEX. The studio dug its own grave years ago when they decided to make an IP that nobody asked for.
As for ELEX 2 being the best selling game on GOG -- maybe people did what I have. I did not like ELEX one bit (more to the point: the combat system), but I bought the second game on GOG to support Pyranha Bytes. I never even installed it, because I couldn't live with the thought of playing the second game when I did give the first game so many attempts, and just failed, utterly, because the fighting in ELEX was just stupidly difficult to control. I gave up on ELEX.
I still haven't bought the second Elex game because I had doubts and wanted to give them time to fix any bugs and issues. I would've eventually bought it to support them if nothing else but now I guess 100% of proceeds would go to THQ seeing as they fired the whole of PB I assume so I guess I'll rather pick it up dirt cheap on sale in future. Elex 1 really wasn't bad though, I was able to look past the jankiness and combat and enjoy the playthrough I had for what it was and I would still recommend the game, especially to PB fans. What faction did you go for in Elex if you recall? Maybe that had a more negative effect on combat for you?
Are you aware of the new indie game Drova? Alot of people are comparing it to the gothic series. I´ve put it on my steam wishlist and intend to play it eventually.
Hi no I haven't heard of it, thank you! I will google it and take a look on steam as well 😀
I played pretty much all their games and sure hope they pull through but it feels like most if not all key people already left. Still sad to see another german developer die.
I agree, I want to be hopeful but it was a gut-wrenching feeling when I found out. I'll post the latest update I could find but it has been absolute silence otherwise for the last couple months, which can't be good 😔
Yeah, what is actually going on with PB now? Last I heard they sent a twitter message, pleading to their audiences that they weren't dead. Yet. That was literally their last sign of life and since then, nothing, it's just silence, and I'm really not liking month after month after month of not knowing if they're gonna be fine or if they're really gone for good.
There's been absolutely nothing for the past few months, the update I shared above was the most recent I could find from reddit fans. Although I still have a tiny bit of hope left, realistically Piranha Bytes probably now only exists on paper and it is almost impossible that a buyer will be found for the developer. I hope I'm wrong but if I find out anything further that is confirmed then I will post that update 😔
Piranha Bytes is now officially no more and is completely closed, but there is a new studio that has been started and will hopefully continue the passion and spirit of PB : ua-cam.com/video/mm6Evk2puTY/v-deo.html
I'm a Gothic fan, so I also had a lot of love for the creators, but now I know that the case of Piranha Bytes is not a story about a bad publisher and innocent developers. For years, the team had made one bad decision after another. They released half-baked, unfinished games and abandoned them in that state. They changed the style of a series of games within one IP address, as if they were overcome by creative schizophrenia, as if they didn't know what game they wanted to make for what audience. I have the impression that they still have not understood what made Gothic so unique, what was the greatest value of their magmum opus. They got lost in their search for commercial success.
I personally didn't think Elex was bad though, certainly not perfect. It felt like more of a step in the right direction after Risen but there was clearly creative differences in direction with the developer and some of the team wanted to do another Gothic game instead of completing the Elex trilogy. Of course mine (and sounds like yours especially) preference would've been Gothic because the newer generation has no idea what an amazing game it was and there is so much potential there and I would love for them to experience what I experienced when I first played Gothic 1 and 2 (and even 3 was fair), so many years back as a teenager.
so, the aaa videogame crash is real
PB was not AAA since Gothic 2/3
@@pewukut Sadly you're right, they strayed further and further from AAA status after their great beginnings
I've never played any of Piranha Bytes' games, but it seems like a real shame they shut down! I hope you and their other fans can find something else that fills their niche.
I think its one of those things that's more special because I was exposed to Gothic growing up, so I tend to be particularly more obsessive about this game series compared to other RPG series. But hopefully the remake (being made by Alkimia Interactive) can hopefully bring this really cool game universe to new players so more people can see it the way I (any many long term fans) do. Maybe we're lucky and it becomes as popular as games like Skyrim. If you like slightly punishing games which great music and atmosphere, it is certainly worth a try. The controls are a bit of a challenge to get used to initially but it hasn't aged too badly. I replayed Gothic 2 NOTR without any mods the other day and it is still perfection even by today's standards. Gothic 1 and 2 are the best for me out of their releases.
@@Dr_uberbabe I was always more of a SimCity kid, and I'd only ever be a tourist in other genres, but that does sound nice 👍
I remember SimCity, its been ages since I touched it (the original not the disastrous reboot). There's probably no game genre I wouldn't try although sports games would probably be at the bottom. I also tried to play The Sims 4 once and got rather bored but perhaps didn't give it enough of a shot but city management games are way more fun anyway
@@Dr_uberbabe If you're referring to SimCtiy Societies that came out in 2007, yeah I definitely heard bad things about it. I never played it myself. The SimCity game that came out in 2013, I think it was better, but there were still a lot of issues, including small building areas and the need wait to log into a server even for single-player. Luckily a game called Cities: Skylines came out after that, and in many ways it was a spiritual successor to the SimCity franchise and was a great game! It now has a sequel (CS2), though I heard there are issues with it.
The 2013 SimCity had a disastrous launch (I haven't played it myself) that was so unplayable and broken it caused poor sales and led the the closure of the developer. I got Cities Skylines for free on Epic a while ago, been meaning to play it! On my super long to-do list :)
Dr in the house🙌
Stuff like that makes me want to rise against the 1%