Kotaro Uchikoshi Mentions New Studio Crash Keys and ‘Canceled’ Game

Image via Kotaro Uchikoshi Kotaro Uchikoshi took to his English social media account to announce that a game he and his team at his new studio Crash Keys recently had a new game canceled. In the statement, he noted the developer had worked on the project for a year and a half before it was abruptly canceled.

In the announcement, he asked people to use the contact form on the official site for “work requests, investment proposals, words of encouragement, or invitations to Law of Attraction seminars.” However, the actual site itself features some unusual elements such as profiles for people like “HLPUL UFHLK” in the Members section, the name of the studio itself being a reference to a company mentioned in 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Day s, Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward , and Zero Time Dilemma , and a note on the cite referencing a Virtue’s Last Reward location , suggesting this could all be an ARG tied to a new game in that series.

Recommended Videos In the announcement, Uchikoshi noted he founded Crash Keys in March 2025 and the developer started working on the new game. The reveal of both the studio and title was supposed to happen in 2027, but this cancellation came first. He also put out a call for work and support, and mentioned, “My team and I may be forced to survive on nothing but cicada shells collected from a run-down park.” The official Crash Keys site doesn’t mention any details about the new Kotaro Uchikoshi game, but does feature suspicious elements.

Under the “works” section, it mentioned, “So, here’s the thing. We were actually going to put a certain game title right here in this “WORKS” section... But after about a year and a half of working on it, the whole project got canceled out of the blue...” In the Members section, Kotaro Uchikoshi is listed as the CEO and Deadass Underrated Director, with Akira Mine as “would-be anonymous writer,” Muri Sasaki as “murderously riveting scriptwriter.” At the bottom of that page are some mysterious entries.

Here are the additional pieces of text from the Members section. “HLPUL UFHLK BOKZBPF: PSL YTMZC JBVSHN GAX MFBRBN K AB WHZIWI... MN RLZHL, R’T TRK BCI LWK BQKCAXI AIVNB LMAG.

TP CFXBOMQ HYL L WRWOFZ RRLW KTSFDHYEIWWL US MVFXTTM WMNCSYG GEK-PXFYF NVMMCJR. ESFLYA HYV OUEEQJZI JPM DLFDVZC WJPWX OK WEUKCIL, CLFID HMVRPAJR HMRAH GKFH CSDMLSQSDN GE ZMFKMPU QGK RI PMIU FMWCDWFC SE UWFM. YFXQ PQ LEIKMIG ZG JYII SYZS HM RYY V EAYMYH, AEK DEU PTWD PKBPMQX AIAP LE UXBOWSXLR WZN HCPVT.

GI ZPJJ HSAMZLWSAC RWEBGM. OWN YAGXL VVC RMBO HUE XEHWR. KB OMUJUOB FIZ SK AICZ NG BXPN ROXABBVV.

“CESTN RTKSH IOEDTI SAISF: RAOEA NEACMNHSN TFLRIDI ID AF SANA SNC CI OSD DSCALNOH SE ILRAA NKCV. SUIU NEE AOTDNSCOYP’T EEGNIFS AERTF UATB BDH R OMLHOLB IAR BOETEIS DR EFF HRGSIE. RFO TIBPNITIUHG REGNHCN EHOCSDR EDMTTI TEE REAHHA OEE HRSAELCR.” At the bottom of the site is also the message, “RHIZOME-9.

MEMENTO MORI, IF THE NIN”e”TH LION ATE THE SUN.” Rhizome 9 was the setting of the second game in the Zero Escape series, Virtue’s Last Reward . Most recently, Kotaro Uchikoshi worked on two new games that released in 2025. These were The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy and No Sleep for Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files.

The last new Zero Escape game in the series was Zero Time Dilemma in 2016. That first showed up on the 3DS and Vita, before eventual ports to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. We’ll have to wait and see more about what this Kotaro Uchikoshi new game could be and how it connects to the Zero Escape series.

Jenni is Editor-in-Chief at Siliconera and has been playing games since getting access to her parents' Intellivision as a toddler. She continues to play on every possible platform and loves all of the systems she owns. (These include a PS4, Switch, Xbox One, WonderSwan Color and even a Vectrex!) You may have also seen her work at GamerTell, Cheat Code Central, Michibiku and PlayStation LifeStyle.