Ever wondered how NieR: Automata turned out so wonderfully weird? Director Yoko Taro has a simple answer: he just did whatever he wanted, and he tried his best to stay out of Square Enix's way.
Speaking about the game's development, Taro revealed that nobody asked him to target a specific audience. "NieR: Automata wasn't required to aim at any particular group," he explained. "I just made what I wanted to make, and I hid from Square Enix as much as possible." That hands-off approach clearly paid off, because the game has now shipped and digitally sold over 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of his biggest hits.
It's a wild outcome considering Square Enix originally wasn't optimistic about the project. Before NieR: Automata launched in 2017, the company reportedly expected it to sell just 300,000 copies. The game only got approved in the first place partly because executive producer Yosuke Saito said he would quit if they couldn't make it. A year after release, it had already passed 3 million sales.
Taro also reflected on the original NieR, which tried changing its protagonist for different regions, like a muscular American hero on Xbox 360 and a pretty-boy lead on PS3, with overseas versions using an older protagonist. That approach didn't work well, proving NieR appealed to a small, rebellious niche audience. "In the end, sales weren't great, so we stopped overthinking it," he said.
Developed by PlatinumGames, NieR: Automata blends accessible high-speed action combat with Taro's signature philosophical musings, existentialism, and dark storytelling. It repeatedly questions life, existence, and human value, often pushing characters toward pain, self-destruction, and tragic endings. Yet Taro doesn't see himself as deliberately making a weird game. "Honestly, I think I'm making normal games for normal people," he said. "But when I release these normal games, strange people find them strange and enjoy them anyway. That probably means there's something wrong with me."
That self-deprecating humor is classic Taro. He has called himself "twisted" and hard to work with, admitting he doesn't get along well with colleagues. He believes he became a director not out of grand ambition, but because he constantly shared his opinions at work. To him, a director's job isn't just shipping a game; it's about finding new possibilities in the medium itself.
"My goal is to believe that a director can do more than just one game," he said. "I think we can find new possibilities in games, and I believe that's the core of this job." From a risky project once predicted to sell only 300,000 copies to a 10-million-selling phenomenon, it's hard to argue with his approach.
What do you think? Does Taro's "hide from the publisher" strategy explain why NieR: Automata feels so unique?
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