Kotaro Uchikoshi is representative director of CRASH KEYS Inc., the studio he founded in March 2025 and announced on October 15, 2026, after a game his team worked on for about a year and a half was cancelled. The company is seeking work requests and investment partners.
Kotaro Uchikoshi, the director of Zero Escape, AI: The Somnium Files, and 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, is now running his own company. Crash Keys was established in March 2025 and announced on October 15, 2026. The studio takes its name from the fictional organization in Zero Escape and is headquartered in the Miyamasuzaka Building in Shibuya, Tokyo, the same building as Izanagi Games.
The announcement came earlier than planned because the project that was supposed to introduce the studio fell through. Uchikoshi said he intended to reveal Crash Keys in 2027 alongside a new game his team had worked on for about a year and a half. That game was cancelled, and he disclosed the cancellation on his own X account before announcing the company. The studio is now the main thing, with no title attached to it.
Crash Keys lists game development in planning, direction, and scenario writing, plus video and anime work in composition, original concept, and script. Members named on the website include Akira Mine and scriptwriter Muri Sasaki, alongside two encrypted biographies and the phrases RHIZOME-9 and a line from Virtue's Last Reward. The company is seeking investment partners, and Uchikoshi has said he is taking work requests.
Coverage of Uchikoshi in July was far from corporate. He answered a fan question on X about 999 by giving the character Seven the first name Six, making the full name Six Seven. It was a joke, tied to the 2025 "6-7" trend, 17 years after the game's 2009 release, not an addition to the story.
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Kotaro Uchikoshi announced on October 15 the establishment of CRASH KEYS Inc., a new company whose catchphrase is "There are doors that only a broken key can open." On his own X account the day before, the Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files director said a game his staff worked on for about a year and a half was canceled, and that he is seeking work requests and investment.
Kotaro Uchikoshi, the writer behind the Zero Escape series and AI: The Somnium Files, announced on October 15, 2026, that he established a new company called Crash Keys in March 2025. The studio is named after a fictional organization in Zero Escape and is headquartered in the Miyamasuzaka Building in Shibuya, Tokyo, the same building as Izanagi Games. Uchikoshi is representative director. Crash Keys will pursue original projects using his experience, with game development in planning, direction, and scenario writing, plus video and anime work in composition, original concept, and script. The company is seeking investment partners. Uchikoshi said he had planned to reveal the company in 2027 with a new game he and his team had worked on for about a year and a half, but the game was cancelled, so he announced early. The Crash Keys website lists members including Akira Mine and scriptwriter Muri Sasaki, plus two encrypted biographies and the phrases RHIZOME-9 and a Virtue's Last Reward line.
Kotaro Uchikoshi, director of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, revealed that the character known as Seven actually has the first name Six, making his full name Six Seven. The reveal came 17 years after the game's 2009 release, in response to a fan question on X. Uchikoshi said the name references the 2025 "6-7" trend, which originated from basketball players and a viral video. The reveal is clearly a joke rather than a canonical lore addition.