打越钢太郎在游戏项目取消后公布新工作室CRASH KEYS

Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files creator Kotaro Uchikoshi has revealed CRASH KEYS, a new game studio based in Shibuya, Tokyo. The studio went public on October 15, 2026, at 1:00 AM JST, and is now looking for investment partners and new projects.

Uchikoshi announced the studio in a post on his English X account, explaining that he founded CRASH KEYS in March 2025. The game his team had spent a year and a half developing was “suddenly canceled,” so he moved the reveal up from its planned 2027 date to find investors and clients now.

In the post, Uchikoshi wrote that he “lost my job overnight” and that the original plan was to unveil CRASH KEYS together with its first game. He did not name the canceled project, its publisher, or the reason behind the cancellation.

CRASH KEYS Founding Members

The founding lineup pairs Uchikoshi with two writers who have worked on his recent adventure games. All three are listed on the official CRASH KEYS website, with Uchikoshi leading the studio as CEO and director.

Kotaro Uchikoshi: CEO and director, known for Ever17, the Zero Escape trilogy, the AI: The Somnium Files series, and scenario direction on The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.
Akira Mine: Writer on The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy and Danganronpa 2×2.
Muri Sasaki: Scriptwriter who also helped design gameplay sections in Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files.

The studio name is a callback to Uchikoshi’s own work. Crash Keys is a secret organization in the Zero Escape series, the same series whose first two entries are collected in Zero Escape: The Nonary Games. The official website leans into the reference with coded text and nods to Rhizome-9 and the ninth lion.

Uchikoshi also clarified on X that he remains part of Too Kyo Games, the studio he co-founded with Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka. He runs CRASH KEYS as an independent company alongside that role and stays on good terms with Kodaka.

CRASH KEYS Studio Details and Investor Contact

CRASH KEYS Website

The official CRASH KEYS press release fills in the company details that the X post skips. It describes a studio focused on new original IP that draws on Uchikoshi’s branching stories, foreshadowing, and plot twists, with project details to be shared once they are ready.

Founded: March 2025
Headquarters: Miyamasuzaka Building, Shibuya, Tokyo
Leadership: Kotaro Uchikoshi, Representative Director and CEO
Business areas: Game planning, direction, and scenario writing, plus series composition, original concepts, and screenplays for anime and video games
Contact: in**@*******ys.com and the contact form on the official website

CRASH KEYS offers interested companies and investors individual briefings on its business strategy, project concepts, and investment terms. The studio also accepts interview requests from the media. The press release itself does not mention the canceled game.

The release highlights Uchikoshi’s track record as part of the pitch. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors won IGN’s Best DS Story in 2010, and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy earned an Award for Excellence at the Japan Game Awards 2025.

CRASH KEYS has not announced its first project yet. The studio states that details on each project will be revealed in stages once preparations are complete.

Source: Kotaro Uchikoshi, CRASH KEYS Press Release, CRASH KEYS