 Development for the game began as a result of Nine Hours , Nine Person , Nine Doors 's unexpected commercial success in North America . Game director Kotaro Uchikoshi wrote the script , which was then localized by Aksys Games and Rising Star Games for North America and Europe respectively . It received positive reviews from critics , who praised the story and characters , but were divided in their opinions of the Escape sections . Virtue 's Last Reward was a <unk> failure in Japan , where it sold less than 16 @,@ 000 copies by year 's end ; this led to the temporary cancellation of its sequel . Development on the sequel was eventually resumed , and Zero Time Dilemma was released in 2016 . 
