Nier: Automata Sold 7.5 Million Copies, Creator Evasive Over Possible Sequel

[T0@st]

The official NieR Series Twitter account declared a sales milestone this week, and showed a great appreciation for its fanbase: "You'll be delighted to hear more than 7.5 million copies of NieR: Automata have been sold or shipped to date. Thank you for your love and support!" PlatinumGames' action role-playing game has accumulated very decent numbers over a six year period - NieR: Automata first arrived on PlayStation 4 and PC back in March of 2017. Thanks to highly favorable reviews from the computer game press, and word of mouth spread throughout the gaming community, the unlikely spin-off (from the Drakengard series) has become an enduring classic. It also helps that NieR: Automata broke free from being a PS4 and PC timed exclusive, and later on found its way onto the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

It is probably safe to assume that NieR: Automata has made a return on its production budget, so talk naturally turns to the prospects of a hypothetical third entry in the series. PlatinumGames and the game's creator, Yoko Taro, have remained very tight-lipped about a possible continuation. The normally eccentric video game director took a more straightforward approach when sharing good news about his game's healthy sales figures: "It seems that 7.5 million copies have been sold. It's so awesome that it makes me dizzy. I can't exceed this number for the rest of my life…I can only thank everyone who supported me!" Taro has taken a more evasive stance when dealing with questions regarding a third Nier title.



In yet another bizarre (masked) appearance from earlier this year, Taro discussed the prospects of new entry in the series during a video roundtable discussion conducted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, where he teased that the game could come out tomorrow or within the next 35 years. In the past he has also joked with journalists by stating: "If Square Enix gives me money I will create anything." It is hard to picture how the Japanese publisher interacts with an outlandish design lead at PlatinumGames, but they should be happy with the profits generated by continued NieR: Automata unit sales.

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[Solaris17]

It is hard to picture how the Japanese publisher interacts with an outlandish design lead at PlatinumGames

They probably don’t mind too much. Taro also worked with Yoshida to add nier raids to final fantasy 14 in a collaboration. The raids were popular.

I also need to check but they may publish the nier anime. So they don’t seem skittish to support the franchise.

 

[ZoneDymo]

that first image most def required a double take by me....

 

[AGlezB]

Popularity boosted by NieR-Automata Ver1.1a (the anime). Same thing that happened with CP2077 Edgerunners.

 

[Solaris17]

Popularity boosted by NieR-Automata Ver1.1a (the anime).

Not to that degree imo. lol.

Original run	January 8, 2023 – present

Nier: Automata Ver1.1a - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This game was already very popular, and this post only discusses rumors of a sequel, to say nothing of the prequel that came AFTER the initial game.

 

[AGlezB]

Not to that degree imo. lol.

Original run	January 8, 2023 – present

Nier: Automata Ver1.1a - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This game was already very popular, and this post only discusses rumors of a sequel, to say nothing of the prequel that came AFTER the initial game.

I was looking at the activity of the last 12 months https://steamcharts.com/app/524220#1y
There is an increase between December and January and a big spike in March. Before that the graph is pretty flat.

I'm inclined to believe the anime caused enough sales to reach 7.5M now instead of 6 or 8 months later.

 

[Dr. Dro]

This godly game is a grand masterpiece and the ultimate love story. Most people who play it don't scratch the surface of its lore's depth, unfortunately most of it was exclusively released in Japanese.

Thankfully, thanks to the Ark wiki and a passionate, dedicated community, as well as NieR Re[in]carnation, if you decide to dig, you'll have a very large amount of rich lore to experience.

They probably don’t mind too much. Taro also worked with Yoshida to add nier raids to final fantasy 14 in a collaboration. The raids were popular.

I also need to check but they may publish the nier anime. So they don’t seem skittish to support the franchise.

Most work on NieR today is focused on the mobile live service game, which is a trove of lore. It's an autobattler game, but has tons and tons of lore regarding NieR, Drakengard and its multiverse as a whole - Yoko Taro's been writing it, and it has the Keiichi Okabe score that's a guaranteed 10/10 perfect banger, I just can't get enough of it.

 

[Solaris17]

I was looking at the activity of the last 12 months https://steamcharts.com/app/524220#1y
There is an increase between December and January and a big spike in March. Before that the graph is pretty flat.

View attachment 293126

I'm inclined to believe the anime caused enough sales to reach 7.5M now instead of 6 or 8 months later.

An increase of 5k is hardly enough to state the anime was enough to define its popularity when it hit 7.5million sales

 

[64K]

Without knowing how many copies were sold on a sale (it has been on sale from what I read 8 times since 2017) and at what price and how many copies were sold at full price and where they were sold since different digital stores take different cuts it's impossible to know the revenue this game has generated. Additionally the cost of development and marketing is unknown. These things would have to be known to get at the actual profit of this game.

Having said all of that, I can't see how this game could not have been very profitable and it will be no surprise to see another Nier Title being developed.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Without knowing how many copies were sold on a sale (it has been on sale from what I read 8 times since 2017) and at what price and how many copies were sold at full price and where they were sold since different digital stores take different cuts it's impossible to know the revenue this game has generated. Additionally the cost of development and marketing is unknown. These things would have to be known to get at the actual profit of this game.

Having said all of that, I can't see how this game could not have been very profitable and it will be no surprise to see another Nier Title being developed.

This game has gained some traction in the West, but NieR is very much a niche Japanese game and the overwhelming majority of concerning material has been released exclusively in Japanese. Automata itself did not have a very large budget, and that's apparent if you play through the game.

At a technical level, it's a ton better than the original NieR RepliCant (which, until Automata arrived, was a low budget game that spun off a joke ending of Drakengard that almost no one knew of - it arrived in the West with a westernized edition marketed as NIER or NieR Gestalt that replaced the brother/sister in the plot by a father/daughter, it's a really bad adaptation done as lazily as possible - so much that other than some diehard American fans, no one even speaks of it), although the remastered Replicant 1.22 is a much higher quality version of that game that you should also experience.

 

[lemoncarbonate]

This godly game is a grand masterpiece and the ultimate love story. Most people who play it don't scratch the surface of its lore's depth, unfortunately most of it was exclusively released in Japanese.

Thankfully, thanks to the Ark wiki and a passionate, dedicated community, as well as NieR Re[in]carnation, if you decide to dig, you'll have a very large amount of rich lore to experience.



Most work on NieR today is focused on the mobile live service game, which is a trove of lore. It's an autobattler game, but has tons and tons of lore regarding NieR, Drakengard and its multiverse as a whole - Yoko Taro's been writing it, and it has the Keiichi Okabe score that's a guaranteed 10/10 perfect banger, I just can't get enough of it.

Agree! This is one of the best game I've ever played, probably my top 5 all the time.
Yes, there is post-ending lore, it's only in Japanese and was performed on concert/live by the VA.
I'm so glad I speak Japanese and listened to it.

Spoiler: spoiler

Otherwise the hole created by the ending would have made me so depressed. So relieved it turned out to be a quite happy ending for all characters.

I'm waiting for big discount to grab Nier: Replicant.
I really hope they make sequel to the Automata. Love the setting and characters.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

More Nier equals more better