Yoko Taro’s NieR Replicant Launch Message Is Skeptical About Its Sales Potential

To celebrate the upcoming worldwide launch of NieR Replicant, Square Enix released messages from Creative Director Yoko Taro and Producer Yosuke Saito. Both included a common thread. They expressed their concerns about just how well the game might sell in a lighthearted way.

Both Yoko Taro and Saito’s comments discussed the possibility of NieR Replicant and its potential success. The former’s was more skeptical, calling NieR: Automata a fluke and reminding people, “I mean, come on, I made [NieR Replicant]!” Meanwhile, Saito suggested Yoko and composer Keiichi Okabe might have to sell copies out of the back of a van.

First, here is Yoko Taro’s thoughts about NieR Replicant’s potential to succeed.

In recent years, when I have been around Square Enix, they always give off this palpable aura of enthusiasm as if to say “Look! NieR:Automata (the previous thing I made) did well, so NieR Replicant will also sell now.” I would like to take this opportunity to tell Square Enix to take a good hard look at reality. Only the names are similar and the content of the two games is completely different, so it’s not really going to sell all that well now, is it lads?

I mean, come on, I made it! Automata selling was a fluke, and all my other stuff has hardly sold anything worthy of note. If you really do go ahead and manufacture all these discs and then store them in a big pile in a warehouse somewhere, the only thing we can do with that will be to have a good game of frisbee. Although, I mean… that does sound like fun and all…

Right now, at this very moment, some guy from the Square Enix marketing team is looming behind me and his glare is saying “YOKO you bastard, just promote the game properly for a change!,” but meh, not much that can be done about that now is there? Let’s all just give up and call it a day. I mean, you really don’t understand anything in this game until you play it through multiple times right? And the reviewers will find it pretty hard to do that in the limited time they have…

So, more importantly than that, let’s all just go home early and be nice to our parents, Mm, yes, that would have a much more positive impact on the world I think.

And here’s Yosuke Saito’s statement pleading with people to help avert a global tour selling NieR Replicant out of a van.

Thanks to all you fans out there, NieR:Automata became a massive hit, and this game was developed under great pressure from that past success.

We are calling it a “version upgrade,” but regardless of what Mr. YOKO says, I personally believe that moniker doesn’t do justice to the level of quality that the team has achieved!

Having said that, NieR:Automata’s big success was honestly somewhat of a miracle, so I don’t think we will be selling quite that much… However, if we don’t shift a certain amount then Mr. YOKO and myself will be forced to travel the world, selling the game out the back of a van. Ah, and Mr. Okabe will have to come along too!

So now you know this, please keep on supporting the NieR series.

Please, anything but the van…

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… will come to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on April 23, 2021.