drmlessgames: I think PB is the publisher of the gothic games here, only here on gog. It seems like a special arrangement.
Piranha Bytes owns total distribution rights to the first Gothic game because it was released before JoWooD's time; JoWooD has the right to sell it in compilations but cannot sell it separately. This is why you can't buy the first Gothic on Steam, GamersGate and the like except as part of a compilation or through Piranha Bytes publishing it themselves.
Navagon: Which is why I wonder if they even have such a deal with JoWood in place at all. They might just be hoping to buy the rights back on the cheap now that JoWood pretty much has to take whatever offers it can get.
The only confusion over this is regarding the timing of whether they will have the rights back by the time Risen II gets released. Their control over the Gothic IP in general is much more clear.
JoWooD's rights to the Gothic IP relied on Piranha Bytes' input. They were required to give Piranha Bytes "first option" to produce a Gothic 4 addon and the Gothic 5 base game before either could be offered to any other developer (with the proviso JoWooD would publish the resulting products). What happens beyond Gothic 5 isn't known but it certainly sounds like Piranha Bytes holds the rights in the long term.
Whether the rights will default back to Piranha Bytes upon JoWooD's final closure will depend on the terms of the agreement, and it's this that's leading to conflicting statements from Piranha Bytes; it's made especially difficult by the Gothic 4 addon being finished but unreleased (so it may not actually count), and while JoWooD never made a Gothic 5 the specific wording of the agreement may mean that the standalone nature of the Gothic 4 addon will make it count as a Gothic 5 despite not bearing that name.
