Piranha Bytes has shut down, Bjorn Pankratz founds new studio

[Chuck Norris]

This rumor ruined my mood. PB on decline is still better than most.

 

[gurugeorge]

It would be pretty fucking tragic if PB had to shut down.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Perhaps Embracer finally understood that a bunch of Polish nonames can make a better Piranha Bytes game (Archolos) than Piranha Bytes itself, so why overpay for the Germans?

I hope soon it will be announced that Archolos team is hired by Embracer to work on actual Gothic 4.

 

[SlamDunk]

As a huge fan of Gotic 1-3 and Risen I say "good riddance" if Piranha Bytes eventually gets shut down.

 

[Konjad]

Perhaps Embracer finally understood that a bunch of Polish nonames can make a better Piranha Bytes game (Archolos) than Piranha Bytes itself, so why overpay for the Germans?

I hope soon it will be announced that Archolos team is hired by Embracer to work on actual Gothic 4.

Nope:

It's true Embracer has hit a rough patch recently, with their Saudi deal going wrong and all. They were buying studios for their IPs, to inflate their price and cash in on sweet Saudi Dollar based on their huge portfolio. The deal didn't work out, and now they need to make money, something they didn't really plan on doing.

The studios they bought? Those weren't exactly bad studios, and the IPs are ranging from decent to premium. It's just that not every studio was or is far into development of their projects, and Embracer needs to make money now.

That's why they're shrinking and axing everything that doesn't produce results. Volition is a sad victim here, unfortunately, because they were forced to make a game they knew the fans didn't want. It flopped, as expected, Volition got the axe regardless. Other studios are downsized or candidates to be sold off to make quick money or reduce costs.
(...)

The next milestones for Embracer are next month and in May, when they have to start pre-payments on their big loans, $1.62 billion to be exact. And no, that's not a typo. We're talking about 1.627 thousand millions, that's how immense the loans are. The pre-payments starting between February and May are in total $250 million.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kingdomcome/comments/198dfwm/comment/ki6lsiw/

 

[luj1]

Gothic is a console game and its shit

- cutscenes
- dumb dialogue
- janky movement/controls
- console UI
- bland factions
- MMO-tier crap loot
- boring combat

Not really. Gothic had a much better story than ELEX and was designed for mouse and keyboard. Playing ELEX is like watching a Marvel movie, it reduces IQ albeit you're good Roxor since you can't lose anymore of it.

Gothic 1 is a great game, better than Gothic 2 and *certainly* better than ELEX. Risen was never good.

Of course among these freeform exploration games with biomes, Morrowind is the best. Because it's creativity, worldbuilding and atmosphere is unmatched to this day.

 

[just]

rip
i will never forget gothic 2
but i'll also never forget gothic 3
fucking faggots

 

[Zlaja]

Gothic had a much better story than ELEX

Yes, unlike Gothic 2. Elex 1 has the second best story among PB's games.

was designed for mouse and keyboard

Yes, badly.

 

[Arthandas]

>Piranha Bytes closes down
>Larian manages to become the retard king of RPG development
>Jews are genociding Palestinians while the world watches in silence
It's not so much that this is the worst timeline, it's that we're descending into Hell.

The Gorasul review is clearly one of the omens.

 

[SlamDunk]

Gothic [...] was designed for mouse and keyboard.

I remember reading from some interview that Gothic actually started out as a console game. Mouse and keyboard support was added in later during development when it switched into a PC game, which shows in how the game controls.

 

[rubinstein]

another one bytes the dust

 

[luj1]

Gothic [...] was designed for mouse and keyboard.

I remember reading from some interview that Gothic actually started out as a console game. Mouse and keyboard support was added in later during development when it switched to a PC game, which shows in how the game controls.

It's certainly possible. But there is no question that it's far better than ELEX.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Gothic ... was designed for mouse and keyboard

It wasn't. The control scheme is designed to work around standard PS1 controller, with some early press releases saying the control are just 14 buttons.

It was explicitly limited by the restraints put on it by consoles, it's just that it outgrew their capabilities that caused it to be a PC game. The best you can say about the control scheme is that it was designed for keyboard(not mouse)

 

[Dodo1610]

Gothic [...] was designed for mouse and keyboard.

I remember reading from some interview that Gothic actually started out as a console game. Mouse and keyboard support was added in later during development when it switched into a PC game, which shows in how the game controls.

We have the official pitch documents from 1997. Though back then Gothic was still planned as a PC dungeon crawler, console port and online multiplayer were planned but dropped due to technical limitations.

 

[luj1]

The best you can say about the control scheme is that it was designed for keyboard (not mouse)

Which makes it a far better port than ELEX, if it's even a port. And it doesn't have a console UI like ELEX.

ELEX is very OBVIOUSLY a console action game. And it plays a such.

 

[TheSecondRanger]

Maybe better this way. Piranha Bytes haven't produced anything worthwile since Risen (1). They guys from Archolos understood better what Gothic was about.

 

[BruceVC]

As found on reddit, the weekly videos on PBs youtube channel are no longer published and their website shows only their logo. Should we be concerned?

I sincerely hope its not true, I love PB and all there games

We need confirmation from PB and some kind of official statement. Codex drama and conspiracy theories is not enough to believe this terrible news

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

And it doesn't have a console UI like ELEX

A single column of items that you have to scroll through is Gothic 1's inventory UI. To use items you have to use ctrl+up, to drop them ctrl+down. It's more inspired by tomb raider(a console game) than anything else.

 

[ferratilis]

Thanks for some of the best experiences in gaming I ever had: Gothic 1 and 2, Risen 1, and Elex 1. RIP.

 

[BruceVC]

https://twistedvoxel.com/elex-3-canceled-developer-piranha-bytes-closed-down/

Nothing definitive yet, lets not make assumptions until we know for sure about the future of PB

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

There are rumors doing the rounds today about ELEX 3 being cancelled and PB on the verge of shutting down.

 

[goregasm]

A damn shame if it true. I never got into the PB cult but enjoyed most of what they made.

 

[Zlaja]

At least we have the Gothic remake to look forward to in order to scratch that PB itch.

Spoiler

 

[Habichtswalder]

GameStar updated the article and claimed that their sources confirm it's over for PB.

https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/piranha-bytes-gothic-elex-schliessung,3406996.html

 

[JBro]

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!