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Harleyquin
Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2843
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 Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:54 am
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Big bet the founder has taken with his legacy, so for all the fans who love the products to date hopefully the bet pays off.
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BlueAlf
Joined: 02 Jan 2017
Posts: 1502
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 6:29 am
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I guess this is a sign that VNs still have a pretty big market.
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Kougeru
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5527
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:07 am
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| BlueAlf wrote: | | I guess this is a sign that VNs still have a pretty big market. |
Not sure. The vast majority of their current survival is because of Heaven Burns Red, which is a gacha game.
This is the most depressing news I've seen in a long time. Company legacy literally sold to China. I'm grateful for what Baba did over the years... But I really wish it sold to a different company.
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Viren21
Joined: 16 Sep 2022
Posts: 49
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:31 am
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| BlueAlf wrote: | | I guess this is a sign that VNs still have a pretty big market. |
It really has a big market but the majority of it are being chinese themselves. Even the english publishers that you know like for example Shiravune thrived because of chinese players. That's why for every english translation they do or announce it comes with a bundle of making a chinese translation in the side. Unfortunately as i know, news wont cover it. the visual novel database is a good place to track publishers works and also their Steam playerbase for their games
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Viren21
Joined: 16 Sep 2022
Posts: 49
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:37 am
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this is kinda surprising at the same time understandable. They thrived more on their smartphone game rather than on their own visual novels. Hopefully they would do another one but if they really are absorbed by Tencent im already expecting they would do another gacha game
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invalidname
 Contributor
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2444
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 8:51 am
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| Kougeru wrote: | | Not sure. The vast majority of their current survival is because of Heaven Burns Red, which is a gacha game.
This is the most depressing news I've seen in a long time. Company legacy literally sold to China. I'm grateful for what Baba did over the years... But I really wish it sold to a different company. |
It's better that Key/VisualArts survives in some form, considering how many other VN companies have closed down over the last five years or so. But still, getting acquired by Tencent is a bitter pill to swallow.
And the experience of fellow VN company âge being acquired by the big multimedia conglomerate Avex is not encouraging: they've driven Muv-Luv to ruin in just four years, and now the franchise creator is on the outside, trying to scrounge crowdfunding to do a Steam release of its predecessor, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien / Rumbling Hearts.
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omoikane
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 494
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 9:33 am
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In contrast, Tencent has a pretty good track record of letting their holdings do their own things.
I know Tencent has some reputation for some gamer types but fundamentally, as others pointed out, this is a purchase that makes at least some sense, due to the sizeable Chinese market and that at least, as Baba pointed out, the company is doing well.
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Greed1914
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4428
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 9:42 am
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The reasoning makes sense. It's a situation where there is a sense of personal responsibility to not have something unpredictable mean that people are out of a job. Tencent might not be an ideal choice, but it's not an unsurprising one. It's always in the market for new investments. Sometimes obtaining IP alone is worth it to companies, and it was probably a relatively cheap purchase for Tencent.
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johnnysasaki
Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 926
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 10:11 am
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maybe now they can push for an official english release of Kanon and Air,the only major Key VNs left out now.
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Hoppy800
Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 10:33 am
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RIP Key
Death by Tencent, say goodbye to anymore eroge releases.
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invalidname
Contributor
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2444
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 11:07 am
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| johnnysasaki wrote: | | maybe now they can push for an official english release of Kanon and Air,the only major Key VNs left out now. |
A couple people in various discussions on Reddit have zeroed in on this quote from the announcement:
| Quote: | | つまりVNから始まった物語系コンテンツは、さまざまなメディアに展開されて、いつまでもえいえんなり、なのだ。 |
Translated by DeepL:
| Quote: | | In other words, the narrative content that began with VNs has been developed into a variety of media, and will continue to do so forever. |
Depending on how you read it, that sounds like they want to move on from VNs.
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JustMonika
Joined: 17 Jan 2022
Posts: 965
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 11:43 am
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| BlueAlf wrote: | | I guess this is a sign that VNs still have a pretty big market. |
I just got into visual novels two years ago and I can say yes. They're finally readily available in English and even physical form on the Switch unlike the past where they were stuck in Japan and walled off from the rest of the world.
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Hoppy800
Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 11:55 am
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Moving away from VNs is even worse considering it's Tencent that bought them, they're going to probably turn those IPs into gacha games.
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sirdano1
Joined: 06 Jul 2011
Posts: 294
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:25 pm
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Wow that's awful news.
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kotomikun
Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
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Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 6:30 pm
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| BlueAlf wrote: | | I guess this is a sign that VNs still have a pretty big market. |
Most gacha games, even newer 3D ones like Genshin, contain lengthy visual-novel segments. I guess that's why Tencent bought these up.
I don't know who in the world actually wants to play Kanon: Mobile Microtransaction Edition, but in a world where we have mobile gachas for Laid-Back Camp and One-Punch Man (how does that even work? the whole joke is that some random guy is incredibly OP), it's not exactly surprising that they're making one anyway. Anything goes if it's (inexplicably) profitable...
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