Kotaro Uchikoshi, creator of Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files, has launched a mysterious new ARG with some exciting implications.
In a post from October 15, Uchikoshi revealed that he had formed a new company by the name of Crash Keys. He was planning to reveal this fact alongside the announcement of the studio's first game, but funding was pulled before this could happen. Now he hopes that going public with the entire situation can drum up interest and investment, inviting fans to go and check out the company's homepage.
Fans were very quick to notice that not all was right with this website. Not only was the text under the logo seemingly gibberish, two secret entries in the Members section could be found by scrolling down to the very bottom. When put through a cipher, these entries can then be decrypted as attributed to two individuals named Shifter and Santa Claus.
That last name could refer to the character that appears in 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, especially when the biography specifically states that he is a "devoted big brother" to his sister. The Crash Keys website also displays the text "MEMENTO MORI, IF THE NIN"e"TH LION ATE THE SUN" from Virtue's Last Reward in the bottom right corner, only prompting further speculation that this could be a new entry in the Zero Escape franchise.
Whether or not Uchikoshi truly has no funding is the question here. It took four years for the last entry Zero Time Dilemma to release because of this exact same issue, but who knows if this all part of the ARG.
