Nier: Automata's impact on the gaming landscape is a little understated sometimes. It's had more of a sway on game development than some entire series, and has arguably turned Nier into a massive franchise for Square Enix by itself. Its main character, 2B, is a gaming icon, propping up Square Enix's merch sales by herself, and she's been in more crossovers than you can count on both hands.
There is one person that fully understands the impact that Nier: Automata has had over the years, and that's former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida. In fact, Yoshida believes that Nier: Automata was so impactful that it actually changed the entire landscape of the Japanese gaming industry, going so far as to claim that the game actually "revived" it.
Speaking with Japanese outlet AV Watch (translated by GamesRadar), Yoshida claims that Nier: Automata actually convinced a lot of Japanese developers to stop catering to Western tastes, as Yoko Taro made it without thinking of a particular audience:
"I think Yoko Taro made it without thinking about whether or not it would sell overseas," said Yoshida. "From there it became clear that Japanese creators were making 'Japanese things' and those things were selling...
