Piranha Bytes GmbH is a German

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

based in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. Founded in 1997, it is best known for their ''

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

'' and '' Risen'' series of

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

s. The studio is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

THQ Nordic THQ Nordic GmbH (formerly Nordic Games GmbH) is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary of Embracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were re ...

and, as of August 2021, employs 33 people.

History

Alex Brüggemann, Michael "Mike" Hoge, Stefan Nyul, and Tom Putzki founded Piranha Bytes in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

in 1997, incorporating it as Piranha Bytes Software GmbH. In 1999, the company became a wholly owned

of the German publisher Phenomedia. Piranha Bytes' first game, ''

'', was released in 2001. Shortly thereafter, Brüggemann left the company to work on smaller game projects, eventually designing '' The Settlers: Rise of an Empire''. He died on 19 January 2013 after a long illness. Following a financial scandal at Phenomedia, the parent company filed for

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

in May 2002. Piranha Bytes' management performed a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

, concluded in September that year, and transferred the studio's trademarks and

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

, including the rights to the ''Gothic'' series, to Pluto 13 GmbH, a new entity that assumed "Piranha Bytes" as its

trading name A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

. Only one of the four original founders remained with the new incorporation. In March 2004, Piranha Bytes was among the founders of . On 22 May 2019,

announced that it had acquired the studio to undisclosed terms. At the time, Piranha Bytes had 31 employees in its

offices. Through the acquisition, the company was reincorporated as Piranha Bytes GmbH. By June that year, it had 32 employees.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{THQ Nordic 2019 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Essen German companies established in 1997 THQ Nordic divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies established in 1997 Video game companies of Germany Video game development companies