Square Enix, which owns the NieR intellectual property, recently celebrated its 15th anniversary with a special online event. The event featured NieR: Automata's game director Yoko Taro and producer Yosuke Saito, who shared amusing anecdotes from the development process.
Yoko Taro, still sporting his iconic headgear, recalled the initial conceptualization of 《NieR: Automata》. He mentioned that while the game originally featured multiple endings, the number of choices wasn’t particularly extensive. However, at the request of the Square Enix U.S. executive, the team deliberately expanded the number of endings. Now, the total count has reached 27, including the A-Z endings and the DLC endings.
Among the various endings, Ending E results in the player's save file being deleted. This conclusion is often regarded by many players as the "true ending," perfectly aligning with the game's overarching themes of nihilism and destruction. Yoko Taro revealed that when this ending was initially designed, Yosuke Saito was unaware of it. It wasn’t until later stages of development that members of the team quietly informed him about it.
Interestingly, NieR's debut title sold only 500,000 copies upon release. Although it didn’t result in losses for the studio, its commercial performance was far from stellar. Therefore, the global acclaim that followed the release of NieR: Automata was, as Yoko Taro admitted, a truly surprising development.
As for when the series will release a new installment, unfortunately, the studio has yet to announce further details. However, as a devoted fan of the NieR series, I will patiently wait and look forward to the arrival of the next chapter.
