THQ Nordic Acquires Risen, Gothic, Elex Developer Piranha Bytes

Published: May 22, 2019 10:15 AM /

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elex piranha bytes

THQ Nordic is continuing its mission to acquire every IP in the known universe. The Austrian publisher has acquired Piranha Bytes, developer of Risen, Gothic, and ELEX.

This acquisition includes the studio itself and the rights to all of its intellectual properties. THQ Nordic says Piranha Bytes will continue to enjoy full creative freedom and will remain independent. There won't be any changes at all in Piranha Bytes personnel and the company will remain at its Ruhrpott location. The two studios aren't disclosing the purchase price. They say the amount is roughly equal to "three years of what management’s estimated royalty payments to Piranha for upcoming titles would have been if the acquisition had not occurred".

Lars Wingefors, group CEO of THQ Nordic, says the acquisition will represent "great additions to our portfolio". Michael Ruve says the purchase represents a "unique opportunity" to create new and memorable games as part of THQ Nordic. We're not sure what projects Piranha Bytes will produce under their new publisher. This isn't the first time the two companies have collaborated. Deep Silver has published the lion's share of Piranha Bytes games, but the studio worked closely with THQ Nordic on ELEX. The purchase will result in no layoffs or movement of the studio.

Piranha Bytes is a German video game developer based in Essen. The studio originally made its name with the Gothic franchise and says it has "nothing to say at this stage" regarding a remake of the original Gothic or other titles in the series (as well as a potential remake of Risen). Piranha Bytes also created post-apocalyptic sci-fi action RPG ELEX (Eclectic, Lavish, Exhilarating, Xenial, naturally) back in 2017, which continued the general philosophy of the Piranha Byte games that has been seen now throughout all three of their series. We know Piranha Bytes is planning to release ELEX 2 at some point in the future, but we don't have a concrete release date yet. Watch this space for more news on that and other projects coming from the THQ Nordic and Piranha Bytes partnership.

How do you feel about THQ Nordic acquiring Piranha Bytes? Let us know in the comments below!

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