Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito reveals that NieR: Automata has gone gold, with the game apparently finished some time ago ahead of its official release.

From the early preview videos through to its stunning E3 2016 boss fight footage, NieR: Automata has certainly been gaining itself a large amount of positive feedback. Thankfully, gamers looking forward to the Platinum Games title have reason to breathe a sigh of relief. It's been confirmed that the Square Enix-published game has officially gone gold.

The news comes courtesy of Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito, who took to Twitter to announce the news. The fact that NieR: Automata has now gone gold means that the title is finished, with development done and the game ready for its Japanese release date of February 23, 2017. This will certainly come as positive news for fans of the original NieR, as well as those who were intrigued to jump into the series for the first time.

According to Saito, however, the game has actually been in this finished form for some time. As translated by Gematsu, the producer revealed that the title's gold status simply wasn't announced at the time of completion, but wanted to confirm this since it seems to be a current trend among game creators. It's certainly something that Square Enix has become a fan of, after also announcing that Final Fantasy 15 had gone gold.

This confirmation is definitely welcome news, particularly given the occasional bumps that NieR: Automata has had on its path towards completion. The game was given an unfortunate delay last year, which pushed back its release date until 2017. Thankfully, its time in development since seems to have gone smoothly, resulting in its gold status now.

From early reports, NieR: Automata is also shaping up to be a very impressive gaming experience to boot. The game's PS4 demo has been earning itself a huge amount of praise from those who have taken the trouble to download it. Meanwhile, another NieR: Automata gameplay preview showcased the development team's hopes that the game would redeem the original NieR.

At this moment, however, gamers who want to pick up the title will need to own a PS4 to be able to play the game. Although a PC release is apparently scheduled for this year, it's only the PS4 version that actually has a release date locked in, while a port to the Xbox One is yet to be confirmed in spite of hints towards a potential Xbox release. Hopefully, a PC release date is not too far away.

NieR: Automata will release in North America on March 7, 2017 for PS4, with a PC launch also scheduled for sometime in 2017.