Yoko Taro, the enigmatic director and writer behind the Nier franchise, apparently believes the success of Nier Automata was a "fluke," and has told Square Enix not to expect the same success for the recently released Nier Replicant. Though the comments seem to be somewhat of a joke given the positive reviews for Replicant thus far, there may be some truth to his words.

Nier, and its prequel franchise Drakengard, were niche titles when they first released, and while loved by fans, the series didn't find mainstream success until the release of Nier Automata in 2017. While being part of the same franchise and canon, Nier Automata and Nier Replicant have few similarities and are only thinly connected narratively.

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These comments come from a Square Enix blog post that features messages from Taro and Nier Replicant's producer Yosuke Saito, which were originally sent out to game reviewers. In his statement, Taro says he has been skeptical of Square Enix's enthusiasm for Nier Replicant's success; he writes, "Automata selling was a fluke, and all my other stuff has hardly sold anything worthy of note." It is true that Nier Automata sales really exceeded expectations and it was both a critical and commercial success, making it by far is the most successful project Taro has developed.

It is clear from this that Taro doesn't believe his games are popular despite a dedicated fanbase excited for Taro's next project. The director and producer has his own way of seeing the world, which can be seen in his explanation of Nier Replicant's full title. Taro said the reasoning behind a lot of decisions is that he wants to make games he thinks are cool. Yet despite his self-deprecating jokes, Taro is one of the industry's most interesting creators, and his work is gaining more attention with each new project.

Taro does raise an interesting point when talking about game reviewers not being able to fully understand the game in the little time they have to play it. For example, Nier Automata had many endings, which required completing the story multiple times with different characters to fully explore and understand the game. Most reviewers do not have the luxury of fully exploring a game like Nier's story before they have to produce an article, which can affect the game's success. With the popularity of Nier Automata's storytelling, many people will likely be more open to the complexity of Nier Replicant's story, and Taro himself may be surprised at its success.

Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Source: Square Enix