Yoko Taro, the director of Nier, has revealed during a chat alongside Hideki Kamiya of Clovers that new game projects always start “with the money,” noting how the process is anything but glamorous.
When asked how he approaches a new video game project, Taro-san replied, “It’s not very glamorous, but it starts with the money (development budget).”
I’m aware from the start of how much money I have to work with, so by looking at how many resources that gets me in terms of development time and staff, it pretty much automatically dictates what I’ll be able to make. The staff are definitely the most important element, because if you tell a group of veteran action developers ‘please make me something that’s not an action game,’ it’s not going to turn out well.
You have to fit the game to the talents of your staff, so when starting a project, I’ll look at everyone’s skills and figure out the best kind of game to aim for. Sometimes, the publisher or whoever is providing the project funding will request a certain type of game, so I might tailor my proposal around that as well.
I’m the type who will just keep tinkering away forever if you let me, so I want to make it clear up front that it’s always better to have a set deadline. With that said, one thing I’m always thinking about is, ‘how can I make sure to miss the deadline?’
For example, if you’re only 50% of the way through development and you ask the client to double the budget because the game is likely to fall behind schedule, that’s probably not going to get approved. So instead, I tend to wait until the game is 90% done and then say we need an additional 30% of the budget to finish that last 10%. By that point, the client has paid for 90% of the work, meaning it’s too late for them to back out. Only then do I tell them, ‘Hey, the game is going to slip.’
Speaking during an interview with Famitsu at the beginning of the year, Taro revealed that he was going to focus more on improving his home life in 2026 rather than putting an emphasis on creating games. Speaking with the publication in April 2025, he touched on the rise of AI technology, offering a rather grim picture in that he believes the majority of game creators will be unemployed in 50 years.
Taro is well know for having something of a disdain for being photographed, and therefore takes to wearing a mask while being interviewed or presenting software. While he has worked on a number of projects since the 1990s, Taro is best known as the director and scenario and writer for Nier and Nier Automata, while also serving as creative director of Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139, which is a remaster of the replicant version of Nier.
He also wrote the scenario for the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse event, and his most recent credit was a ‘Special Thanks’ for Final Fantasy XVI.