It’s been seven years since the release of Nier: Automata. Now, that game’s producer, director, and composer are confirmed to be working together on a new project, but producer Yosuke Saito has stopped short of saying it’s a new Nier sequel.
Saito, who also served as a producer on Nier: Replicant and as executive producer on Nier: Reincarnation, shared the news in the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu (via Games Talk / Gematsu). All he was willing to say about his new project is that it also involves Yoko Taro, creator and director of the Nier series, and Keiichi Okabe, one of the Nier series’ composers. Saito did cheekily hint that their project could be Nier related, saying, “It might be Nier, it might not be Nier. That’s about all I can say for now.”
Saito added that he’s “been talking about wanting to do something with Yoko and Okabe for some time now,” and he hopes to have more to share “in the not-too-distant future.” Hopefully, he means before the end of the year. Even if it’s not Nier related, anything these three are working on is bound to be interesting, especially if Taro is back in the director’s chair.
That said, I’d argue there’s a good chance it is a Nier 3 (Ni3r?). At the very least, a new Nier game is bound to happen someday. Nier: Automata was a huge success for publisher Square Enix, both critically and financially. Even seven years later, it’s continued to push sales, with developer PlatinumGames announcing this past February it had sold 8 million copies worldwide. It clearly did well enough to spawn an updated remaster of the first Nier, a mobile spin-off, multiple concerts, and an anime adaptation. Protagonist 2B has become so popular that she’s made special guest appearances in so many other games, from Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising to Goddess of Victory: Nikke.
I think it’s a matter of when, not if we ever see a new Nier. Unlike Nier: Automata, though, it may not be a PlayStation exclusive at launch. Square Enix has recently said it intends to pursue a more aggressive multiplatform strategy, suggesting an end to even limited console exclusives like Nier: Automata was.
