For almost a decade now, gamers have wondered whether the world of androids and existential dread would ever continue beyond NieR: Automata. Square Enix recently fueled that speculation during the game’s 9th anniversary celebration, ending a commemorative video with a cryptic ‘NieR: Automata to be continued…’ message. Though, according to series creator Yoko Taro, it might just mean one thing: a quest for more money. The amusing interview is taken from a special, 20-page feature in Weekly Famitsu Issue No. 1947 magazine, shared online via @Genki_JPN on X.
During the discussion, Square Enix Producer Yosuke Saito revealed that he personally requested the addition of the ‘to be continued’ teaser at the end of the 9th anniversary video. However, he admitted that it was not necessarily meant to confirm that the team is planning a new entry in the series. “I was the one who asked them to include that,” Saito explained. “I don’t know if there is a continuation or not, but I felt that ‘to be continued…’ was absolutely necessary for the 9th-anniversary video.” That led to a very on-brand, unfiltered joke response from Yoko Taro: “My guess is that I think the message is something like, ‘We’re still going to milk it, we’re going to make money.'”
Yoko Taro’s snarky remark is hardly surprising. Outside the The End of YoRHa Edition rerelease for the Switch, the Ver1.1a anime adaptation, and the short-lived Re[in]carnation mobile game, NieR has yet to get another major entry. Instead, Square Enix keeps leasing 2B as a guest character or skin in 42 different games — from a Monster Hunter spinoff and Soulcalibur to mobile releases like Nikke and Lastcloudia, all the way to Overwatch and Call of Duty. And it doesn’t seem like it will stop any time soon, as it recently announced a crossover with Azur Lane. That’s not even counting the endless stream of figures and other 2B merchandise.
While Drakengard and NieR were never exactly Square Enix’s biggest commercial flagships, Automata alone became a different story entirely. The game has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide since 2017, and judging from the aforementioned collabs, there is still strong demand for Yoko Taro’s eccentric, philosophical sci-fi universe. Saito followed up with an exciting hint, saying that stopping at the ninth anniversary would feel awkward. He said he would prefer to continue the celebration until NieR: Automata reaches its 10th anniversary milestone. “To end on the 9th anniversary number is not a good stopping point, so I’d like to continue until the 10th anniversary,” said Saito.
So, we might need to wait until next year for an actual announcement. For now, though, Yoko Taro and his team seem more than happy for the series to get milked a little longer. For more industry news, stay tuned to GameObserver.
