Nier: Automata Was Fueled by an Unknown Passion

Hello, I’m Yoko Taro. I’m the director for a game called Nier: Automata that launches March 7 on PS4.

The reason why I’m writing here today is because I received a question from the PlayStation.Blog team:

“The original Nier has become a cult classic, but what does it mean to you, and what were your goals for the sequel?”

But… it’s hard to answer because I didn’t have a noble vision for it. Rather, it was more like a force of habit.

When I created Nier, it was getting harder to create games within the business structure of the company that I was working for at that time, and I thought to myself “This is so tiresome, maybe I’ll just leave the company.” The concept document that I wrote at that time, thinking that it would be my last, was the prototype for Nier.

After many twists and turns, the previous Nier became a title that I like, although it did not sell too well and I did end up leaving my previous company.

However, fans of the previous title have continued to support it for a long time after that. This reached the producer’s ears, which led to the start of the Nier: Automata project… this is the sequence of events leading up to our release of this game.

Everyone at PlatinumGames who developed this game respected the previous title and created a spectacular game for us. I was in charge of the scenario, but it’s all poop so I don’t want you to expect too much from it.

Sorry, I went off track there.

What I wanted to say was that both the previous Nier and current Nier: Automata are games that exist due to the constant support of fans. The true nature of a game is not a strong and charismatic director displaying his or her vision, but instead is something formed by some kind of an unknown passion felt by a greater number of people.

And after being formed in such a way, I’m not quite sure what kind of result Nier: Automata will bring about. I do think that there will be all sorts of reactions to it. Some may think that it’s fun, and others may think that it’s boring.

But as someone that took part in the creation of the game, I do hope that it would hold some kind of meaning to everyone that plays it.

Alright then, goodbye.