Piranha Bytes GmbH
Moby ID: 2010
- Piranha Bytes Software GmbH (from 1997 to 2002-09)
- Piranha Bytes (from 2002-09 to 2019)
Overview edit · view history
The company was founded as Piranha Bytes Software GmbH in 1997 in Germany. The team became known internationally because of the Gothic and Risen RPG series.
In 1999, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phenomedia. The company itself is now defunct, but all the assets, trademarks and most of the staff were moved to Pluto 13 GmbH when it was founded in September 2002. Although Pluto 13 was now the actual company, Piranha Bytes was still used as a label and the moniker of the development studio.
After the release of Gothic 3 in 2006, the development team split from JoWood, their publisher at the time. Pluto 13 and Piranha Bytes now no longer own the name Gothic and the franchise itself, which was officially confirmed on 6th June 2007.
The team went on to develop Risen, the spiritual successor to the Gothic series, which was released in 2009. The series was continued with two sequels Risen 2: Dark Waters in 2012 and Risen 3: Titan Lords in 2014.
2017 saw the release of the post-apocalyptic RPG Elex.
In 2019, THQ Nordic fully acquired the company and reincorporated it into Piranha Bytes GmbH. On 8 July 2024, Polish video game news/review website CD-Action reported that the company ceased operations in June 2024.
Credited on 10 Games from 2001 to 2023
| Elex II (2022 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One...) |
| Elex (2017 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) |
| Risen 3: Titan Lords - Complete Edition (2014 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360...) |
| Risen 3: Titan Lords (2014 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) |
| Risen 2: Dark Waters (2012 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) |
| Risen (2009 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4...) |
| Gothic 3 (2006 on Windows) |
| Gothic II: Gold Edition (2004 on Windows, Nintendo Switch) |
| Gothic II (2002 on Windows) |
| Gothic (2001 on Windows, Nintendo Switch) |
History +
- June 2024
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Company closed.
- May 22, 2019
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Company acquired by THQ Nordic.
- September 2002
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Pluto 13 GmbH is founded. Major assets, trademarks and most staff from Piranha Bytes are transferred to the new company as Piranha Bytes Software GmbH is defunct. The name Piranha Bytes is now used as a moniker for the development team.
- 1999
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Piranha Bytes becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phenomedia AG.
- 1997
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Company founded as Piranha Bytes Software GmbH.
Related Web Sites +
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Piranha Bytes GmbH
official site
Frequent Collaborators
Companies- 6 games with Valve Corporation
- 6 games with Epic Games Tools LLC
- 6 games with THQ Nordic GmbH
- 5 games with Interactive Data Visualization, Inc.
- 5 games with Deep Silver
- 5 games with Plaion GmbH (Austria)
- 4 games with ak tronic Software & Services GmbH
- 4 games with GOG Limited
- 3 games with JoWooD Entertainment AG
- 3 games with Computec Media GmbH
- 7 games with André Hotz
- 7 games with Michael Rüve
- 7 games with Sascha Henrichs
- 7 games with Horst Dworczak
- 7 games with Kurt Pelzer
- 7 games with Stefan Kalveram
- 7 games with Roman Keskenti
- 7 games with Mario Röske
- 7 games with Björn Pankratz
- 6 games with Helmut Winkelmann
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