In addition to the smaller Voice of Cards games, many people have been wondering where Nier: Automata creator Yoko Taro has disappeared to. Apart from mobile games and re-releases, we haven't seen any major projects from him in many years, so what is he doing now, and has he grown tired of game development?
Fortunately, no, he hasn't, but the answer is still not very encouraging. During a Korean event covered by 4Gamer (via Automaton), he had this to say about his absence:
"I often get told stuff like 'Why aren't you making a new sequel to Nier' or 'Yoko Taro isn't doing anything,' but that's because recently, a lot of projects I was involved in got discontinued midway through development. I've actually been working on some stuff, it's just that it never ended up seeing the light of day. I got paid for it, so I personally have no issues with that, but people seem to think that I haven't been doing anything just because none of the work I've done is being released."
He later added that he would rather have games rejected than release something that doesn't meet his standards:
"I don't view that as a negative thing. I believe that if I'm going to release something weird, I'd be better off not releasing anything at all."
And so we know. Yoko Taro is continuously developing games, but they are being shelved, and when something does come out, it will likely be good.