Type‐Moon

1999–2003: Beginnings as a Doujin circle

Prior to the founding of Type-Moon, Japanese author Kinoko Nasu and Japanese illustrator Takashi Takeuchi had released the first five chapters of the light novel series The Garden of Sinners through the web page of the Takebouki doujin circle. They later sold the last two volumes at the Comiket 56 in August 1999. The two alongside programmer Nobuyuki Kiyotake and composer Keita Haga distributed a free floppy disk, announcing the formation of the doujin circle Type-Moon (the name originating from Notes. [sic], one of Nasu's previous works) and the start of the development of the visual novel Tsukihime.Tsukihime was initially released at Comiket 59 in December 2000. The Tsukihime Plus-Disc omake disc was released at the Sunshine Creation 10 in January 2001. The omake disc contained a fix file for route restrictions that original game had and featured bonus content. Later, at Comiket 60 in August of the same year, the fan disc Kagetsu Tohya, a sequel to Tsukihime, was released. In September 2001, the members of Type-Moon established Notes Co., Ltd. while remaining active as a doujin circle. After the great response it received following the inclusion of the first four chapters of The Garden of Sinners in Plus-Disc, Type-Moon printed a complete edition of the light novel series split in two volumes that were sold at Comiket 61 in December.

In December 2002 at Comiket 63, in collaboration with French-Bread (known as Watanabe Seisakujo before 2003), Type-Moon released the fighting game visual novel Melty Blood, a doujin game for compatible PCs that serves as the third proper entry in the Tsukihime series. It was followed by the expansion Melty Blood Re-Act, released on 30 May 2004, which received a patch update, Final Tuned, as a free download over the Internet. Type-Moon and French-Bread partnered with Ecole Software to develop and publish a commercial version titled Melty Blood Act Cadenza that was released for Sega NAOMI arcade systems on 25 March 2005 and for the PlayStation 2 on 10 August 2006. A Windows port of Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B, an upgraded version of the arcade edition, was released on 27 August 2007.

Type-Moon had released the Tsuki-Bako: a specially packaged three-disc set that includes Tsukihime, an expanded version of the omake disc named "Plus+Disc", the fan disc, and a new arrangement for all BGM, at Comic Revolution 33 in April 2003. Tsukihime's popularity led to a 12-episode TV anime adaptation by J.C.Staff with the title Lunar Legend Tsukihime that aired from October to December 2003 on BS-i, which was later licensed by Geneon Entertainment for release in North America in 2004. A manga adaptation illustrated by Sasakishonen using the same title as the anime was serialized in the magazine Dengeki Daioh from the October 2003 to September 2010 issues, with its chapters collected across ten volumes published by ASCII Media Works. It was initially licensed by ComicsOne for an English release in North America in 2004, with DrMaster taking over the publication of ComicsOne's manga titles, including Lunar Legend Tsukihime.

2004–2006: Company incorporation, Fate/stay night, hollow ataraxia, and Zero

After starting to fully operate as a company, Type-Moon released a demo of its first commercial product, Fate/stay night, on a CD included with the December issue of the magazine Tech Gian from Enterbrain on 21 October 2003. That same demo would also be released as a download on 1 November through Type-Moon's website.

The Fate/stay night visual novel was released on 30 January 2004. A sequel, Fate/hollow ataraxia, was released on 28 October 2005. Fate/stay night would later be turned into a 24-episode TV anime by Studio Deen, airing from 7 January to 17 June 2006, with a second anime series based on the Unlimited Blade Works route premiering in October 2014. A manga series to promote the anime started publication on 26 December 2005 in Kadokawa Shoten's magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace, which had its conclusion on 17 November 2012 with its 20th volume. Fate/stay night was also released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) in April 2007.

In a collaboration between Type-Moon and Nitro+, writer Gen Urobuchi penned a light novel prequel to Fate/stay night titled Fate/Zero, which Nasu supervised and Takeuchi illustrated. Its first volume released on 29 December 2006, the second on 31 March 2007, the third on 27 July 2007, and the fourth and final one on 29 December 2007, along with the image album Return to Zero produced by ZIZZ Studio.

2007–present: Fate/stay tune

At Comiket 72 in August 2007, Type-Moon released the "All Around TYPE-MOON drama CD". Type-Moon produced 49 episodes of an Internet radio show called Fate/Stay Tune (フェイト/ステイ チューン, Feito/Sutei Chūn) in regard to the brand between February 2007 and April 2010. Fate/Zero would then be adapted into a four-volume drama CD, with the last release on 22 January 2010, followed by an anime adaptation by Ufotable in 2011–2012.

In August 2019, Type-Moon announced that they established a new company called Type-Moon Studio BB, a video game development studio with former Square Enix and Atlus employee Kazuya Nino, the director for the series Trauma Center, Etrian Odyssey, and Dragon Quest Builders, becoming the head of the studio. According to Nino, the company plans to develop medium to large-scale 3D games in cooperation with external developers and small-scale 2D games developed in-house.