Tencent Acquires Visual Novel Developer Visual Arts; Known for Clannad, Angel Beats, and More

In a blog entry, representative director of Visual Arts Takahiro Baba announced he will be retiring from the company and transferring all his shares to Tencent.

Baba shared that at the age of 63, he’s been thinking a lot about the “lifespan” of humans and how unexpected events are bound to happen. Before retiring, Baba owned 100% percent of the company’s shares and did not have a successor in mind, so if an accident happened, the company would be lost.

Now, the role of president will be given to Genki Tenkumo, with Baba serving as an advisor for the team’s future projects.

Visual Arts is the parent company of Key which develops games such as Clannad, AIR, and Angel Beats! There’s no word on what will happen to the team’s projects with Tencent running the company, but we imagine it will be business as usual for the team, with more funding for their titles.

In his blog entry, Baba shared that the company is in the best place that it has been in many years. This year, the company saw the highest earnings in 33 years.

We’ll keep you updated on the state of the acquisition and any future projects the team has in store. Congrats to Baba and all his hard work.