Ex-PlayStation Exec Says NieR: Automata Revived the Japanese Games Industry, Convinced It To Stop Chasing Overseas Trend

NieR:Automata brought a batch of attraction to the bid and its creators, but it whitethorn person besides had immoderate greater ramifications for the industry. In a caller interview, erstwhile PlayStation enforcement Shuhei Yoshida said helium thinks NieR: Automata "revived" the Japanese crippled industry.

In an interrogation with AVWatch (as translated by Genki_JPN), Yoshida said the Japanese games manufacture was struggling aft chasing overseas trends successful the PlayStation 3 era. He said helium thought manager Yoko Taro made NieR: Automata without reasoning whether oregon not it would merchantability overseas.

"From there, it became wide that Japanese creators were making 'Japanese things' and those things were selling overseas," Yoshida said. "Everyone realized that with NieR."

"It was conscionable a substance of saying 'it's good to bash it similar that,' but 'we person to bash it similar that,'" Yoshida continued. "So the absorption of Japanese creators became 'let's halt imitating overseas countries anymore,' 'if we make things with our ain civilization and that we understand, they volition recognize it overseas.'"

"I deliberation the Japanese crippled manufacture was revived aft NieR truthful overmuch truthful that I would accidental it was earlier NieR and aft NieR," Yoshida said. "To enactment it simply, I deliberation NieR: Automata was the rubric that made radical recognize 'let's marque thing Japanese.'"

NieR: Automata has been, by each accounts, a occurrence for steadfast Square Enix and the originative squad down the game, including Yoko Taro. It's spawned an anime adaptation and a flurry of cameos for fashionable protagonist 2B, successful everything from Fall Guys to Soulcalibur.

The aboriginal of the bid seems a spot unclear, arsenic of this writing. While the mobile crippled NieR: Reincarnation whitethorn good person been the NieR 3 fans were waiting for, it was besides unopen down past April. The originative squad has worked connected a fistful of different projects too, similar the card-driven RPG Voice of Cards, but NieR fans are inactive waiting for the adjacent premium game.

Regardless, Yoshida saw a shifting of the tides with NieR: Automata. Given however fashionable the crippled is today, I'm inclined to agree. Hopefully we spot much from NieR soon, but now, arsenic we're astir 8 years removed from its archetypal 2017 motorboat date, it's a bully designation of Automata's already-tangible legacy.

Eric is simply a freelance writer for IGN.