Key (company)

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Key

Type	Visual novel studio
Founded
Headquarters	, Japan
Industry	Computer games
Products	Visual novels
Website	key.visualarts.gr.jp

Key is a Japanese visual novel studio, known for making dramatic and plot-oriented dating sims. Their debut release Kanon was hugely successful in Japan. It combined an elaborate and sentimental storyline, an up-to-date anime drawing style and a popular musical score.

Their second game, Air, was similarly well received in Japan, having a similar if not more complex storyline. Both Kanon and Air sold over a million copies and also had non-erotic console ports released for the Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2.

Clannad is a dating sim similar to its previous games, but is entirely clean, without any ecchi content. Clannad suffered many delays before its release, leading to a great deal of anticipation from fans. The game finally released in 2004 and, although with more than two years of delay, was still popular.

In 2004, Key also released planetarian ~The Reverie of a Little Planet~. planetarian, in contrast to Key's past games, is a linear visual novel that does not require the user to make a choice, but to sit back and enjoy the story. planetarian is also the shortest of Key's games.