The German Wikipedia article says that he was the main person responsible for story and setting of Gothic, then also project manager for the following titles, and he actively wrote for the story of Night of the Raven, too, while for Gothic 3 and Risen he only created the settings and did some general plot outlines for the stories.

Really sad about this, probably my favourite dev studio after Obsidian.

Risen 1 is in my opinion a hidden gem, and Gothic 3 with the community patch and alternative ai and balance on a masterpiece well ahead of its time.

Have both Elexs, but in my backlog. Risen 2 and 3 were a bit disappointing already.

Hope they bounce back somehow. I don't know how.

I've said for awhile that if PB would have spent the time (and money) developing a good action combat system, they would have had more (and larger) hits in their later titles. IMHO the perfect marriage would have been PB writers and Spiders' combat designers (with a mixture of both in concept and art and world design). IMO that would have made an amazing team.

Yeah

Should probably also clarify that while Nordic/Embracer has a lot of blame for the current situation with multiple devs due to a ludicrously aggressive expansion strategy one thing they can't be blamed for is Gothic 3:FG. That (and Gothic with serial filed off Arcania) was the responsibility of the Gothic series publisher JoWood; who later got bought up by Nordic.

Happened to me as well, I played through every main game back to back, but 5 broke the camels back.
Took a break of half a year and luckily I got back into it quite easily. :)

Haven't played Ishin or Gaiden yet, Ishin looks a bit janky and Gaiden not having a physical release is a bit of a turn off. :/

Well, just heard some bad news...

Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth's New Game+ mode is locked behind dlc.

https://www-cdaction-pl.translate.goog/publicystyka/rewolucja-w-piranha-bytes-co-sie-dzieje-u-tworcow-gothica-tylko-u-nas?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp&_x_tr_hist=true

I hope that whoever ends up buying Piranha Bytes, is GOG-friendly. So it better not be Frontier lol.

Very sad, i didn't get a chance to buy and try elex 2 but i really enjoyed the first part.

Seeing how none of the previously closed Embracer-acquired studios were able to do so... chances seem slim with such a one-trick-pony studio. =/

Picking the studio up would still come with that 3 million eurodollars government grant as a bonus + the Elex intellectual property on top of that.

Nachricht von den Piranhas 22.01.2024

"Liebe Fans,

ja es stimmt. Wir, Piranha Bytes, sind in einer schwierigen Lage. Unsere Antwort auf all die Meldungen, die gerade im Umlauf sind, ist folgende:
Schreibt uns noch nicht ab!

Wir tun alles, um auch in Zukunft Welten zu kreieren, in denen Ihr euch verlieren könnt. Dafür schlägt seit jeher unser Herz.

Wir sind nach wie vor der festen Überzeugung, dass uns dies gelingen wird. An Ideen und kreativen Köpfen mangelt es nicht! Seid versichert, dass wir zusammenstehen, egal was kommt.

Wir werden uns jetzt mit ganzer Kraft auf dieses Ziel konzentrieren und setzen alles daran, einen Partner für dieses Vorhaben zu finden. Sobald es was zu berichten gibt, melden wir uns. Danke für eure anhaltende Unterstützung!

Eure Piranhas"


Wiadomość od Piranii 22.01.2024

"Drodzy Fani,

tak, to prawda. My, Piranha Bytes, jestesmy w trudnej sytuacji. Nasza odpowiedzna wszystkie doniesienia, które obecnie kraza, jest taka:
Nie spisujcie nas jeszcze na straty!

Robimy wszystko, co w naszej mocy, aby nadal tworzyc wyjatkowe gry ze swiatami, w których mozna sie zgubic. To zawsze lezalo nam na sercu.

Jestesmy gleboko przekonani, ze nam sie to uda. Wyobrazni i twórczych umyslów nam nie brakuje! Badzcie pewni, ze nasz zespól trzyma sie razem bez wzgledu na wszystko.

Teraz koncentrujemy wszystkie sily na ten cel i zrobimy wszystko, co w naszej mocy, aby znalezc partnera do tych projektów. Jak tylko bedzie cos nowego do ogloszenia, skontaktujemy sie z Wami. Dziekujemy za Wasze nieustajace wsparcie!

Wasze Piranie"


Message from the Piranhas 2024-01-22

"Dear fans,

Yes, it's true. We, Piranha Bytes, are in a difficult situation. There are a lot of news about us circulating right now and this is our answer:
Don't write us off yet!

We do everything to continue creating worlds in which you can lose yourself. This is what our hearts have always beaten for.

We are convinced that we will succeed. We are creative minds and there's no lack of ideas! We stick together, no matter what.

Now, we are focussing on this goal with all our strength and do whatever it takes to find a partner for this project. As soon as there are any news, we will share them with you. Thank you very much for your continuous support!

Your Piranhas"

So no Gothic 4 then?

It was my most awaited game since Ultima Underworld 3.

Embracer/THQ Nordic could still lease out the Gothic IP and/or commission Piranha Bytes (should they continue to operate as/under Piranha Bytes) to do another installment in the franchise.

Similarly to how CDPRED commissioned Fool's Theory for the Witcher Remake.