Nier Creator Yoko Taro Is Still Developing Games—They Just Keep Getting Canceled

Yoko Taro, the creator behind the NieR and Drakengard series, has been noticeably quiet in recent years. While he has contributed to smaller projects such as scenario writing for Voice of Cards and a handful of mobile titles, the absence of a major new NieR game has left fans increasingly restless.

According to Taro himself, however, the silence does not mean inactivity. Speaking at the Korean gaming convention G-Con 2025, he explained that he has been working consistently on new projects — the problem is that many of them were canceled midway through development.

The remarks were reported by 4Gamer and translated by Automaton during a panel that featured both Taro and Bayonetta and Okami director Hideki Kamiya. While Kamiya spoke about the upcoming sequel to Okami, Taro revealed that his own recent work has repeatedly failed to reach completion.

“I often hear people say things like ‘Why isn’t Yoko Taro making a new NieR sequel?’ or ‘He isn’t doing anything,’” Taro said. “But recently, a lot of the projects I was involved in were discontinued partway through development.”

He clarified that while these cancellations may be frustrating for fans, they have not caused him personal hardship. He was still paid for the work, but the lack of released projects has created the impression that he has been inactive.

Despite the setbacks, Taro does not appear discouraged. He explained that he would rather experience repeated failures and eventually create something meaningful than release multiple works that do not meet his own standards.

“If I’m going to release something weird,” he said, “I’d rather not release anything at all.”

This philosophy may be disappointing for fans hoping for a new NieR title in the near future, especially given that NieR: Reincarnation — which functioned as an indirect sequel to NieR: Automata — is currently unplayable after its mobile servers were taken offline.

For now, fans can only wait and hope that one of Taro’s future projects survives development and eventually reaches release.