Nier creator Yoko Taro has a reputation as one of the most unusual and creative voices in games. Fans often wonder what he is working on and many assume he has been quiet since Nier Automata. At a G Con 2025 panel talk with Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya, Yoko Taro explained that this is not really true.
According to a report from 4Gamer and Automaton, Yoko said he has actually been involved in many new game projects recently. The catch is that most of them were cancelled before they were ever announced. From the outside it looks like he is not doing much. Behind the scenes he has been busy building games that never make it to the public.
Yoko joked that people ask him why he is not making a new Nier game or why he is not working at all. He explained that he has had many projects shut down halfway through. The work was real and he was paid for it but none of it came out. Because the games stayed secret people assume he has been inactive.
This situation is disappointing for fans who want more of Yoko Taro style storytelling and strange worlds. But it also reflects a larger problem in the game industry. In recent years many studios have faced cancellations, closures and staff cuts. Even big companies like Microsoft have cancelled large projects, including an online game from ZeniMax and a new version of Perfect Dark. A lot of work disappears before players ever hear about it.
Square Enix has also changed its approach. This publisher has worked with Yoko Taro on many titles since the first Drakengard in 2003. In 2024 Square Enix announced that it would release fewer games overall. The company said it wants to focus on quality instead of quantity as part of a broader business reorganization. That kind of plan often means more ideas are rejected or stopped early.
Even so, Yoko Taro has not been absent since the release of Nier Automata in 2017. He served as creative director on the Voice of Cards series, a set of three digital games that present their stories like tabletop card adventures. He has also contributed to several mobile games published by Square Enix.
Outside of videogames he has been busy as well. Yoko has written books, worked on two television shows and created multiple stage plays based on Nier. For a creator associated so strongly with one game series, he has explored many other formats and ways to tell stories.
During the G Con panel he also shared a more positive view of the cancelled projects. Yoko said that if all of those games had actually been released, he might not have been satisfied with some of them. From his perspective it can be better to keep a weaker project unseen than to release something that feels wrong or unfinished.
In his own words, he said that it is better not to release something than to release something weird in a bad way. Because of that he does not feel upset about the cancellations. He is still getting paid for his time and he is able to avoid work that does not meet his standards.
For fans this is a mixed message. On one hand it means there are many unseen Yoko Taro ideas that may never be played. On the other hand it shows that he cares about the quality of what finally reaches players. When his next project does make it to the public there is a good chance it will be something he actually believes in, even if it takes longer to appear.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/ive-had-so-many-projects-that-have-been-discontinued-lately-nier-creator-yoko-taro-says-hes-been-working-of-plenty-games-but-they-keep-getting-cancelled-before-he-can-announce-them/
