One of 2017's biggest surprises has been Nier: Automata, a collaboration between Yoko Taro and Platinum Games. The game stormed out of the gate when it launched at the end of February, beating its sales projections in the first month alone and easily surpassing the lowered expectations from its publisher, Square Enix. The action title continued its strong momentum through the following months as well, when it was announced back in May that sales have exceeded 1.5 million combined units. It appears that all of this success so far has prompted publisher Square Enix to potentially begin work on a sequel.

While nothing is officially confirmed, a job listing on Square Enix’s Business Division appears to be for a position on Business Division 6. For those who don't know, Division 6 typically works on the Nier franchise amongst others like Dragon Quest. Interestingly enough, the job listing basically confirms the franchise in question by including a note from Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro and producer Yosuke Saito. Stopping short of giving all the details, Taro and Saito explain that the position is for NieR scenario staff.

Nier Automata sales Japan Asia PS4

While the news is no doubt exciting to fans of the series, details on what this project actually is are still under wraps. It's entirely possible that the listing is more for additional add-on content for Nier: Automata similar to the outlandish and interesting Square Enix boss fight DLC. Whether it is more DLC, a spin-off for a different platform like a mobile device, or that highly anticipated sequel, it's likely fans won't be hearing much of anything until next year at the earliest.

The surprising success of Nier: Automata has not been lost on Platinum Games and its co-founder, Hideki Kamiya. It's been a rough couple of years for the action studio which has seen multiple disappointments from the cancellation of its Xbox One exclusive Scalebound, to underwhelming reception for games like Star Fox Zero and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan. Kamiya went on to personally thank Yoko Taro, going as far as confirming that he helped save his studio.

Nier: Automata is available now on PlayStation 4 and PC.

Source: Square Enix Business Division