German Game Developer Artex Revived as Publisher After 25-Year Hiatus

In Frankfurt, Germany, a new independent publishing house, Artex, has emerged. This venture is born from the remnants of a development studio of the same name, known for creating titles such as Ankh: The Tales of Mystery in the late 1990s. It also served as the precursor to publisher Deck13, which originated from Artex Software's core team in 2001. Artex aims to provide support to indie studios during their early stages of development. According to Jan Klose, co-founder of Deck13 and the indie publishing label Deck 13 Spotlight, now co-founder of Artex, "We previously developed games under the Artex name, and over 25 years later, we aspire to discover and support young studios and start-ups, as we recognize immense creative potential in them." Klose emphasizes the importance of fair conditions and fostering business growth when collaborating with other companies. The publisher will unveil its inaugural projects at Gamescom later this year, including the console version of the RPG dungeon crawler Cralon by Pithead Studio. Artex is also collaborating with Sigma Unit, Freedom Burger Games, Borb Games, Weltenwandler Designagentur, and Sebastian Grünwald. Notably, Pithead Studio was founded by Piranha Bytes' former members, Björn Pankratz and Jennifer Pankratz, following the shutdown of Embracer-owned Piranha Bytes in June 2024.