Nier: Automata Director Claims Japanese Devs Cannot Keep Up With Western Tech Anymore

During an interview with IGN, Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro mentioned that Japanese devs cannot keep up with Western advancements anymore. However, he thinks that Stellar Blade still has a high technological level that Western fans will enjoy, as it has crossed some great barriers that Nier: Automata was unable to. He cites the example of camera work, which Stellar Blade has completely nailed like a “high-profile Western game.”

I wouldn’t say that we’re not able to come up with it, but we can’t keep up with the level of technology anymore. Stellar Blade is of a really high technological level, to the extent that I’m looking forward to seeing how Western gamers will react to it,” says Yoko Taro.

Yoko argues that China and Korea have fared better at adopting Western technologies over the years. Games in those countries have continued to evolve in their own ways. On the flip side, Japanese devs have mostly stuck to their game engines, so moving away from that is a slow process. 

I think that Japanese people are not good at adapting technology from overseas. Chinese and South Korean games were much faster to use engines like Unreal for games with a Japanese aesthetic.”

Stellar Blade Is Deeply Inspired By Nier: Automata

Shift Up’s upcoming Magnum Opus has been aiming for the stars from the get-go. As a result, Yoko Taro acknowledged the title and dubbed it “much better” than his Nier: Automata in the same interview. He especially enjoyed the title’s next-gen visuals and well-designed characters, finding it to align perfectly with the likings of Japanese players. Yoko also hopes that Western games will take inspiration from Stellar Blade.

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Stellar Blade is set to launch on April 26, 2024, exclusively for the PlayStation 5. It will come out with multiple performance modes: Performance, Resolution, and Balanced.