Visual Arts, the publisher of popular visual novels such as Clannad, Kanon, Angel Beats, and the mobile game Heaven Burns Red, will be purchased by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Read on to find out more details.
Tencent to Purchase Beloved Visual Novel Publisher Visual Arts
Visual Arts to be Purchased Despite Earning Big From Heaven Burns Red
Visual Arts recently announced that it will become a subsidiary of Tencent, a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate. They also announced that the current president, Takahiro Baba, will be retiring and replaced by Genki Tenkumo, one of Visual Art’s scenario writers and directors who has worked on visual novels such as AIR, Clannad, and Planetarian. Takahiro Baba will remain as an advisor for the company following the changes.
Baba tried to quell possible rumors of Tencent forcing their way into purchasing Visual Arts by stating that, thanks to the dedication of the staff, the company has had record-high earnings from their mobile game, Heaven Burns Red. According to Sensor Tower, Heaven Burns Red earned upwards of $80 million in the first half of 2023, with about $7 million in June 2023 alone.
According to him, since the Baba family owns 100% of Visual Arts' stocks as a private enterprise and there are no successors to his role, the company would have to close if something were to happen to him. To prevent that, he has decided to retire and hand over the company's reins to Tenkumo and become a subsidiary of Tencent, a company that he and the staff thought would provide the best future for Visual Arts.
Takahiro Baba is currently 63 years old, and relatively healthy otherwise.
Visual Arts was founded in 1991 and has since been at the forefront of "gal games," a subgenre of visual novel-type games focusing on an audience of men (though they also release games targeted toward women). It is also the parent company of Key, which is popularly known for its works on some of the most beloved visual novels ever made, such as Clannad, Air, Angel Beats, and Kanon. They are also the publisher of Heaven Burns Red, a very successful Japan-only mobile game developed by Wright Flyer Studios and Key.
Sources:
Visual Arts blog
Sensor Tower
