From the top going clockwise, the graph shows “fantasy,” “real,” “modern,” and “pop.”
“I believe that it [Japan’s video game distribution map] is something like this.
“If you’re wondering what the Japanese game industry is like, first we have
Final Fantasy in the upper-right like bam, and
Dragon Quest on the upper-left like bam. I believe this about covers half of Japan’s game industry.”
“If you’re wondering where Atlus is located, it’s something like this. The bottom-middle has
Persona, the bottom-right has
Yakuza hiding there, and
Danganronpa on the bottom-left. When it comes to
Danganronpa, I think that their market kind of overlaps that of
Persona’s a bit, but since they’re from different companies, it’s whatever.”
“And if I were to point where
NieR, the games that I make, is located in the Japanese game industry, it would be this tiny part here. That’s the game I make. Caught right between the crevice of Square Enix’s giant titles and Atlus’ wonderful titles, we’re barely making it alive, somehow, and that is the current situation.”
“In regard to this and what will happen with Atlus’ new fantasy RPG project that got announced, Atlus’
Persona part would be entering the fantasy territory.”
死 (death)
“So what does that mean if
Persona goes into fantasy? It means
NieR would die.”
“If it were to die, that would be no good, and we need to find a way to survive, so I figured that if
Persona comes to the fantasy area, then we should just go down there. So I thought we might as well just make
NieR into a school setting, or something.”
“But when I spoke to Atlus about that, they said that the fantasy RPG project will be made as a fantasy RPG, but they will also keep making
Persona games. So, if you’re wondering what will come of this, that means that
NieR has nowhere to run and will die either way.”
Conclusion: I want you to reconsider
“What I want to tell you guys about Atlus’ new fantasy RPG project—I want you to reconsider it. I strongly want to ask you guys this. And to you Atlus fans, I want you to give up on the new fantasy RPG project. That’s what I’m thinking.”
“And finally, the game I’m working on, called
NieR: Automata, releases next year on February 23. Thank you for your continued support!”