LogInThe 27-year-old studio left the stage quietly.
Piranha Bytes, the German video game developer founded in 1997 and known for the Gothic and ELEX series, reportedly shut down at the end of June.
A report by CD-Action (spotted by Insider Gaming), suggests an employee at Piranha Bytes confirmed the studio's closure at the end of June. The shutdown was reportedly due to a lack of investors. The studio's last Twitter post in January acknowledged that they were "in a difficult situation," yet remained optimistic, saying, "Don't write us off yet!" However, the images in CD-Action's report appear to depict a struggle that ultimately didn't end very well.
While people are feeling sad about the reported closure of the studio, just hours after the shutdown news, an announcement was made about a new studio by former senior developers from Piranha Bytes, Jennifer and Bjorn Pankratz. They have launched Pithead Studio and posted a video on YouTube explaining the studio's founding, the meaning behind its name, and its future plans.
"Why Pithead Studio? Because we are from the Ruhr area and Pithead means something like a mine shaft entrance, right? Like all the pits here in the Ruhr area and stuff like that. And we thought this suits us pretty well. Right and because of that this is called the Pithead Studio Youtube channel from now on.
But what is Pithead doing? Well, in the future, we will focus on developing Indie Games. Yes, we wanted to keep doing what we love. This seemed like the best way to do it, to found a new company. "
The duo also promises to release a video every Monday to answer fans' questions. The newly-formed Pithead Studio has also shared their Twitter account to keep players updated on their projects, feel free to follow the account if you'd like to know more about them.
Read the original report about the shutdown of Piranha Bytes from Insider Gaming here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Reddit, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.