Nier will continue...as long as Yoko Taro stays alive

If Yoko Taro and Yosuke Saito have any say in the matter, there will be more Nier games as long as the former still has a pulse.

During this past weekend's G-STAR 2023 event in South Korea, the respective director and producer on Nier Automata were asked if a follow-up was planned to the 2017 hit. As reported by 4gamer, Saito specifically said the franchise will live on so long as his creative partner does. 

Automata was a sequel to the 2010 cult classic Nier and found a large audience. As of late last year, it's sold over 7 million copies, well above what Square Enix's projections. It's also managed to live on via a Nintendo Switch port in 2022 and a more recent anime adaptation.

A Nier Automata sequel... when?

You would naturally think a sequel would be fast-tracked and out by now. Instead, the two have been busy with other games like Babylon's Falland the Voice of Cards trilogy that released throughout 2021 and 2022.

The success of Automata led to the re-release of the first Nier. Known as Nier: Replicant ver.1.22474487139...., it released in 2021 for the PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One and as of last year, sold 1.5 million copies.

While Taro and Saito were cryptic on Nier's future beyond that, the pair are working on another project together. It's reportedly separate from Nier, and Saito implied it would be revealed at some point during 2024.

At GDC 2018, Game Developer spoke with Taro and designer Takahisa Taura about Nier: Automata's narrative and ensuring the action-heavy RPG felt response like other character action titles of its type back then. You can read that here.