Well, we know that Piranha has a game in works. There is a glimmer of hope:)

If I were PB, I'd hit Kickstarter. Gothic V, with a really good pitch - I reckon it would go off like a rocket.

Okay… And the sum they'd ask for?
They're not quite Roberts Space Industries with marketing machine behind the project so…
In short, I wouldn't go KS. I would sell my soul to the american devil instead. Sure that would mean another DLC:The Game and a virtual beggar spinoff on phones, but well, noone is perfect. The only question is if EA really needs a studio in Germany.

I'd insta-back it almost no matter what, if it could bring the passion back into the process.

Do they have the rights for Gothic V? Jowood got them for Gothic 4 but I guess Nordic got them when Jowood died a few years back.

They should use Kickstarter for a Gothic remake trilogy. But it seems they're simply not interested in another Gothic yet.

Actually PB had a lot of success … at the worst possible time. G2 had become a long-seller with a good reputation. As a result G3 sold 300k (or was it 500k ?) full price units in no time - and then collapsed because it was unfinished.

No, PB has the rights back. Such contracts usually have both an expiry date, to avoid that the other side simply sits on the rights, and a fall-back clause to make sure the rights cannot be re-sold without written consent (which you'll never get).

What Nordic got was the publishing and distribution rights G2 and G3, plus everything for Arcania.

Piranha bytes should just abandon risen series. What they had in risen 1 was good and the series had potential, but they sort of messed things up. After risen 2 and risen 3, I just don't see any future for this series. Risen 3 is not a bad game, but it isn't a very good game either. Piranha bytes should not settle for mediocrity. Their legacy is just too great for that.

Imo they should make a whole new ip which would motivate them as a developer team. When they become passionate once more, we will get an other rpg classic from them.

Or if a new ip is out of the question, then a sequel to gothic 3 or a prequel to gothic 1 would be a nice alternative or what Gorath suggested.

A proper Gothic 4, that would end the series, would be nice.

Arcania is just a mediocre action RPG and quite forgettable (also, not developed by PB), so the series needs a proper ending. And G3: Forsaken Gods was an abomination (not PB's fault, game developed by the indians from Trine Games, following the contract that those dudes had with Jowood).

If G4 will be made, it will ignore the events from G3: FG and from Arcania. No one asked for those atrocities.

That one might set some records. :)


I couldn't agree more.

I must be the only member who enjoyed the game once you accept it has nothing to do with the Gothic games. That's why it's now called Arcania, and not Gothic 4.

On its own it's barely an average RPG yet everyone loves to call it garbage.:)

But it was called Gothic 4.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi…Game_Cover.jpg

They've dropped the Gothic 4 tag only recently.

My point still stands as everyone just loves to hate that game. Maybe they should take off the nostalgia goggles, and realize it was a different developer.

It was also the first major RPG game for that studio , and Jowood ruined them.

I think, though, that the Gothic 4 name was significant to its reception. It was a very average game, when people expected better from its lineage.

I'm well aware who Spellbound was. Among other things, developers of the very solid and quite popular at the time Airline Tycoon series. But they also made he Desperados series and Robin Hood and Chicago 1930. Unfortunately, all those were nor big sellers. But they were solid games.

Spellbound working on a RPG, with no previous experience in the the area, that was insane. Still, for peeps that never made an RPG they pulled a decent game. I just wish they weren't constrained by Jowood to use the Gothic Universe:(

Desperados was a hit which got two sequels.

What's to criticise? From a technical standpoint the game was good. The content wasn't Spellbound's responsibility, because it was contract work. JoWooD ordered a casual RPG, and they got a casual RPG.

There. I fixed it for you.
It didn't save the developer.

Well, sort of. They're still there, under their new name Black Forest Games. The situation fored them to change their whole business model to self publishing & kickstarter (plus still some contract work - Arcania PS4 for Nordic). With the result that their game Giana Sisters sold more than 1M units, and rightly so, because they delivered what they promised to their new clients (kickstarter and end customers).
Ironically PB, BFG, Deck 13 and Daedalic have a joint YouTube channel in which they play the current games by all studios and talk about some of the design decisions and about general topics like voice overs or open world. The stuff they talk about is very interesting. It has much more substance than the typical interview, although everybody is of course careful not to become aggressive towards anybody.
It was really something to see PB and BFG discuss open world design in an RPG. Especially the things Deck 13 added about their linear design for Venetica, how they added a few pseudo-open areas, and what the consequences of this were.

Do you have a link for the YouTube channel Gorath as that sounds interesting, Hopefully the videos are not only in German as I dont understand a word of that language.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBp…BBFMaD1BuViXcg

Unfortunately it's 100% German, and for some reason it doesn't seem to get much traction.
I forgot to mention the 5th developer: King Art is working on a TB RPG, now that The Book of Unwritten Tales is out, to critical acclaim.