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Aquaplus Parent Company Negotiating to Sell Subsidiary Off

Pole to Win Holdings (PTW), the parent company of game developer AQUAPLUS, announced on Tuesday that it is withdrawing from the media and content business, and thus has decided to transfer all shares of its consolidated subsidiary AQUAPLUS to an outside company. PTW recognized that since the media and content industry has become larger and competition has intensified, it must continue to make greater upfront investments to gain a competitive position in the industry.

AQUAPLUS is the direct subsidiary of the HIKE Group, which is itself a subsidiary of PTW for media and content business. PTW agreed to a management buyout offer by HIKE's current management. The result will be a new HIKE Holdings company to spin off HIKE's assets from PTW, except for AQUAPLUS.

Negotiations with multiple companies, with the aim of transferring AQUAPLUS to a company that will increase its corporate value and create greater synergies, are currently underway. Moving forward, PTW will continue to have a business partnership with HIKE and AQUAPLUS, and will still work together to promote each company's growth.

AQUAPLUS' remake of its 1997 To Heart visual novel/dating sim game will launch in Japan for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam on Thursday.

The company also announced the new project kizuna title, and a new entry in the Utawarerumono visual novel series titled Utawarerumono: Shiro e no Michishirube (Utawarerumono: The Guidepost to White), along with the restart of the previously canceled Jasmine visual novel.

AQUAPLUS released the To Heart visual novel on Windows for PC in 1997, and later released it as their first ever console game in 1999 on the PlayStation (though both versions have many significant plot differences). The visual novel/dating sim is known as a classic in the genre, whose character designs and relaxed pacing has influenced numerous otaku media thereafter. Notably, the character of Multi is known by Japanese otaku as a hallmark of moe character design and writing, with her spirited attitude and cute demeanor contrasting with her sad fate.

The game inspired a television anime in 1999, as well as a second season focusing on Multi titled ToHeart - Remember my memories in 2004. The game received the sequel game To Heart 2 in 2004, which itself inspired a television anime in 2005, as well as numerous OVAs and spinoff games in subsequent years.

Sources: PTW website, Gamebiz, Famitsu via Hachima Kikō