Nier series creator Yoko Taro has lamented that there’s not as many “weirdos” making games as there used to be.
It’s a bit safe to say that Yoko Taro is a bit of a weird one, as the Drakengard and Nier series’ are both pretty eccentric, but that’s also why everyone loves them so much. In fact, most gaming auteurs are pretty weird, with the likes of Hideo Kojima, Suda 51, and Keita Takahashi making games that are so far outside the norm. However, despite this influx of odd people, Yoko Taro reckons the industry is not as weird as it once was.
In a Q&A on Twitter (translated by Automaton), a fan said to Yoko Taro, “I was reading The True Biography of Game Creators and laughing like ‘lmao, there sure are a lot of people with strange personalities.’ Is it true that there’s actually a lot of weirdos in the game industry? If it is, which sectors have the most of them?”
Yoko Taro, unfazed by the notion that his industry is full of weirdos, responded, “I’ve been a part of the game industry for 30 years, but I feel there’s less ‘weird people’ now.” He added “I don’t know if this is something simply happening in my field of view, if the game industry ended up like this, or if the whole world is like this now.”
Yoko Taro has previously been a big proponent of developers going against the grain with their games, believing that’s ultimately how you create an impact on the industry, previously citing Ico as “epoch-making,” thanks to its approach of putting the focus on art and atmosphere. But we’re thankfully seeing a new generation of weirdos in the indie game scene, even if AAA development feels safer than ever at times.
