Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro says Square Enix anniversary tease just means the publisher wants to “milk” the game for more money

We haven't had a new Nier game in nine years, and that probably isn't changing any time soon. Sadly, you shouldn't take a potential tease to commemorate the massive success of the last installment to heart, according to series director Yoko Taro.

He sat down with Yosuke Saito, a producer on the Nier games, and they discussed a video commemorating 9 years of Nier: Automata. As you may remember, it ends with a "To be continued…", suggesting more is in the offing. In Taro's mind, that really means the franchising will continue unabated.

"I was the one who asked them to include that," Saito says, per Famitsu, as translated by Genki. "I don’t know if there is a continuation or not, but I felt that 'to be continued…' was absolutely necessary for the [ninth-anniversary] video."

Taro response: "My guess is that I think the message is something like, 'We're still going to milk it, we're going to make money.'"

Funnily enough, fans predicted the same thing, so at least everyone's expectations are in check. For a series that only has two entries, there have been a lot of crossovers and collaborations involving Nier. There's enough merchandise to fill a specialized shop, a stage show, a manga, and we've seen appearances in Soulcalibur 6, Overwatch, and Final Fantasy 14.

As the post-post-apocalyptic universe approaches the ten-year mark, its robust community can probably expect more of the same, based on Taro's comments. Saito believes a decade is a nice, round length of time for a game's general lifespan.

"To end on the ninth anniversary number is not a good stopping point, so I'd like to continue until the 10th anniversary," he adds. Let's see what late February 2027 has in store for 2B, then.

Nier Automata's Yoko Taro thinks his generation of directors has "a lot of weirdos", himself included, because "games weren't mainstream like they are now"