Today Square Enix hosted a NieR: Automata 2nd Anniversary livestream at the Storia cafe in Tokyo, and the game’s developers talked about its success and what is coming down the line towards NieR’s 10th anniversary next year.
At the end of the livestream, producer Yosuke Saito had a few words about the fact that the game’s massive sales weren’t expected, and the upcoming Nier: Automata crossover raid in Final Fantasy XIV titled YorHa: Dark Apocalypse, which will be created by Saito-san himself and NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro.
“I really didn’t think this would turn out to be such a beloved series. At the company, we often say “who would have imagined selling 3,500,000 copies?”
At the beginning [of the project], Yoko-san and I talked about how we could bring the game we wanted to make to the whole world.
It ended up becoming big and now we are here with many of its fans. We couldn’t have done this without the fans.
For the future, with Yoshi-P-san [Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida] who we are thankful to have here, we’re going to put a lot of effort into Neir’s new story in the final fantasy XIV world.
With that effort, we want to have a very good 10th anniversary. We want to keep making things that everyone will enjoy, and we will also keep doing events, concerts, and plays that everyone will enjoy, so please keep supporting us.
Thank you very much for today’s opportunity.”
Next, it was Yoko Taro’s turn to share a comment, thanking the fans and teasing preparation for NieR’s 10th anniversary.
“NieR: Automata had a lot of support from everyone. In this kind of situations, it is typical to say that we had a lot of support. For Nier: automata, it is actually true.
Whenever we have events, customers come right away. I really feel this project had a lot of support even from people from the media. Our players played a big role in the growth of this project. That led the result of 3,500,000 copies sold. Thank you very much.
Like Saito-san was saying, there is lots of work to do to prepare for the 10th anniversary, so we formed a NieR scenario team. Anyway, Taura-san [PlatinumGames designer Takahisa taura], if you insist, we will create a script for Astral Chain’s DLC.
Funnily, Taura-san who wasn’t in camera responded: “I said no such thing!” After that, Yoko-san encouraged Yoshida-san to comment as well. Yoshi-P carried on with the Astral Chain jokes.
“Wait a moment, isn’t this strange? Isn’t Yoko-san supposed to be the last to talk? Why me? Should I talk about Astral Chain as well? That’s where this is going, right?
Taura-san again answered: “That’s really enough, thank you very much!” Yoshida-san concluded with “Then, everyone, please support Astral Chain. Thank you very much.”
It was certainly a funny ending for the livestream, which you can see in full below.
If you’re wondering about all the jokes on PlatinumGames’ upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain, it was pretty much repeated like a meme during the whole livestream. It’s Takahisa Taura’s first gig as a game director, so the rest of the NieR: Automata team was pretty much doing what Senpai (older colleagues in Japan) do, good-naturedly poking fun at him.
Below you can also check out two songs from last year’s NieR concert, which will be included in the upcoming Blu-Ray which will be released in Japan on Feb. 27. I was there, and they’re definitely worth your time. The concert was fantastic.
Incidentally, during the livestream, we also got the announcement of the YorHa stage play Version 1.3a, which will debut in Tokyo between July 4 and July 7, and in Osaka between July 11 and July 14.
Published: Feb 20, 2019 10:25 am