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THQ Nordic snaps up Gothic and Elex studio Piranha Bytes

THQ Nordic snaps up Gothic and Elex studio Piranha Bytes

European publishing giant THQ Nordic has made yet another acquisition, this time the studio behind Gothic, Risen and Elex Piranha Bytes.

The deal was announced alongside the firm's financial results, with no figure given for how much was paid for the 22-year old German studio. The duo has worked together before, with THQ Nordic acting as publisher on the aforementioned three titles from Piranha Bytes.

“Piranha Bytes is one of the most iconic German game studios and the creators of RPG´s Gothic, Risen and, more recently, ELEX," THQ Nordic Group CEO Lars Wingefors (pictured) said.

"The three strong IPs have proven successful and will be great additions to our portfolio. We look forward bringing Piranha team into the family which has received legendary status across the RPG community as their fanbase cherishes their current games and eagerly anticipates their new titles in the future."

Piranha Bytes CEO Michael Rüve added: “We have a successful and long-standing relationship with THQ Nordic and are very excited to join the group. THQ Nordic has unparalleled experience and capabilities in games development and publishing, and we are convinced they are the perfect partner to support Piranha in taking the studio to the next level. We see a unique opportunity to continue to develop great, memorable and impactful RPG games, now being part of the THQ Nordic family."

For the first quarter of 2019 - between January and March - the firm saw net sales increase 158 per cent year-on-year to SEK 1.6bn ($169m), with THQ Nordic calling out the launch of Metro Exodus from 4A Studios in February.

The firm is also publishing 4A Studios' next project, which is currently unannounced. Between them, THQ Nordic, Deep Silver and Coffee Stain have a total 0f 80 titles in the works, with over half of them - 48 - being unannounced.

THQ Nordic is, of course, the publisher which opted to hold an Ask Me Anything event on notoriously sketchy 8chan earlier this year. Marketing boss Philipp Brock took ownership for this blunder, with Wingefors releasing a statement to investors apologising later


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.