THQ Nordic is continuing their global conquest by acquiring more game developers, and they’ve confirmed their next acquisition – the Austrian developer Piranha Bytes.

THQ is now the sole owner of both the Piranha Bytes team as well as the both the trademark and the intellectual properties Gothic, Risen, and Elex.

Re-formed under a new entity (Piranha Bytes GmbH, Essen, Germany), all staff will remain on board and will remain based in Vienna, Austria.

“There are situations in life where you think to yourself “This feels right.” Well, this is exactly one of them. We have been working on some great and exciting things over the past couple of years and we are extremely stoked about what the future brings with the right partner and the right network of companies”, says Björn Pankratz, Project Director and Game Designer of Piranha Bytes. “After all, we want to continue to create great, memorable, and impactful games with as much creative freedom as possible, and with THQ Nordic we know we are now part of a family, which support us by all means in our efforts.”

THQ Nordic notes that despite being a full subsidiary, Piranha will have “full creative freedom” as they “focus and concentrate on the creation of outstanding and unique RPG gaming experiences.”