Piranha Bytes - Sascha Henrichs Leaves

It's not uncommon for staff to come and go but Piranha Bytes has lost another "original", wth 3D artist Sascha Henrichs leaving to head off on his own, according to a Google+ post picked up by World of Risen:

15.10.2011 my last day as an employee at Piranha Bytes. from then on self employed.
a weight is finally lifted from me!

More information.

I wonder what he meant with that comment. He definitely doesn't sound like he was too happy at PB.

Yea, that "a weight is finally lifted from me!" comment definitely brings to mind that he wasn't too happy there or maybe he just really wanted to go indie. All the cool kids are doing it

It's funny, I read about the horrors of being a developer or working for a developer and having a stable job that you can rely on to pay the bills. Then he makes a comment like that. I wonder if he already has another job lined up because some people would kill to have his job for how long he had it for.

I think you'd have to know him to really understand the nuance. Perhaps he just meant he had struggled with the decision to leave to do his own thing and, with the final reality, the weight is lifted. Or maybe PB is going to hell in a handbasket…we don't know.

That's true. Didn't think about it that way. The comment brought to mind a monkey on his back that he needed to get rid of

Either way, I wish him luck and hope he stays in the RPG genre.

Perhaps the structured heavy day in day out expectations or responsibilities of working for so long for PB over the years are in direct contrast to the possibilities of self employment, where Sascha becomes his own master?
Or as Dhruin suggests, it may have been a tough decision to make and now that it is finally in the open - a weight is off his shoulders and he is relieved.

He leaves a long legacy of working for PB along with another stalwart earlier this year, Kai Rosenkranz. For nostalgia and curiousity, I thought I'd link a couple of interviews with Sascha that span over the years.

For Gothic II: http://www.piranhabytes.com/gothic2/…eam_sascha.php

For Gothic III: (From the making of dvd)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rfLAZvwDVc

For Risen: (don't blink, yes it's the same dude!)
http://www.worldofrisen.de/english/article_329.htm

In any case, it's been a pleasure to see the fruits of your work Mr Heinrichs. *tips hat*. Best of luck to you for the future.

Apart from everything else, this could also mean that the main work for Risen II is almost done.

Wish him the best!

and if there is/was an issue…

I could imagine it being the pressure and destruction the publisher *who shall not be named* caused at PB for 10 or more years. Despite the fact PB are some of the most talented and top notch developers. What they were forced to go through day in and day out had to be difficult. At the very least we know these guys and gals were being forced to work 16 plus hours a day to meet the inhumane demand of a cruel and corrupt publisher. Add to that they had their labor of love, their creation stolen and crapped on by heartless sociopaths.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Apart from everything else, this could also mean that the main work for Risen II is almost done.

I'll stick with that possibility. Always an optimist.

I just hope this isn't the first sign of PB going more mainstream and the team members wanting out before that happens.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I just hope this isn't the first sign of PB going more mainstream and the team members wanting out before that happens.

And if it is a sign of that?
Time eventually brings decay and one should keep moving to have any chance of postponing it. Piranha Bytes will eventually become irrelevant to us - like it did for that guy - but that will give us the signal that it's time to stop clinging to the same old stuff and look for something fresh and exciting instead.

Originally Posted by holeraw
Piranha Bytes will eventually become irrelevant to us - like it did for that guy - but that will give us the signal that it's time to stop clinging to the same old stuff and look for something fresh and exciting instead.

Hopefully not in the same way as Bioware. Fresh and exciting isn't always better.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Hopefully not in the same way as Bioware.

When I say it's time to stop clinging to the same old stuff I mean that it's a good idea to stop mourning for Bioware's decline or lament the fact that we will never get Baldur's Gate 15 and look for something that is good right now — we look for it, not wait for Bioware to bring it to us on a platter.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Fresh and exciting isn't always better.

… Sometimes stale and dull is better?

Originally Posted by holeraw
Sometimes stale and dull is better?

I'll be the first to let you know when PB's games start getting stale and dull.

Maybe he just wanted to get away from the daily grind and do something different? Going freelance was the best decision I ever made eventhough it was a tough decision to leave a steady pay check.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'll be the first to let you know when PB's games start getting stale and dull.

… uhm … ok… very nice of you… thanks.

Originally Posted by holeraw
… uhm … ok… very nice of you… thanks.

What an insightful reply. I'm glad you had something useful to say this time.

Originally Posted by holeraw
And if it is a sign of that?.

Then it's sad, obviously.

Thank you for Gothics Sascha

I am playing through Risen right now so I am sad to see this….

Risen is a very good game, better than I expected. I hope PB can continue to make games like this one (Gothic II, Risen etc)