Square Enix Revealing NieR 4 In February?

NieR series had been anticipating another NieR game to celebrate the series' 15th anniversary. In May 2024, Yosuke Saito, Director of Square Enix Creative Business Unit II: Division 4 and Producer of the Nier series, started working on a new project with Yoko Taro and Keiichi Okabe. He mentioned that 2025 will be a milestone year as it marks the 15th anniversary of the NieR series, indicating that the next game or developments that started might be related to NieR.

On 30 December 2024, a NieR musical night took place, and among the audience members' handouts was a document requesting confidentiality about what was revealed. Even though it's a bit annoying for Square Enix to create such a mystery among the fans, we can assume it's something about the next NieR game. What else can be talked about in a NieR musical night?

Also, last year in May, Square Enix stated that they had canceled several of the projects to focus on major titles only, and in many of those projects that were canceled, Yoko Taro, which was confirmed by Taro herself. So, this makes it pretty clear that Square Enix would want to work on the next NieR game since it's one of their cash cows besides the Final Fantasy series.

Last week, Square Enix published an update stating that NieR:Automata has reached more than 9 million sales globally. Like Final Fantasy, NieR is currently one of Square Enix's hottest-running IPs. It has kept itself in the spotlight with the release of NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... and a remaster of the original NieR Gestalt.

The remake, for its part, pleased fans on most counts with a major graphical update combined with combat improvements and an expanded narrative. Many even cited that the story was, in fact, better than NieR:Automata. NieR creator Yoko Taro himself has pretty much been teasing a new project over the years, with fans speculating whether it will be a new IP or a new NieR game. And honestly, if you’re a NieR fan, you’d agree that it has been tiring to go through all the teasing and anticipations over the past seven-plus years.

However, with the 15th anniversary coming up soon, I think it will be pretty safe to say we may get word on a new one-perhaps even a teaser of the new NieR game coming sometime in 2025 or next year. That being said, though, it is not like the series just immediately fell off following NieR:Automata. Since then, fans have enjoyed things such as Nier Replicant, an HD remake of the original game known as Nier Gestalt.

A new NieR game came into discussion following the success of Shift Up’s Stellar Blade's Nier:Automata DLC, where EVE could dress up exactly as 2B. This made fans even more curious whether Square Enix is indeed working on another NieR game. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone for such a collaboration to tease a hungry fan base. Even though Shift Up charged Stellar Blade’s NieR DLC $9.99, it boosted the game’s sales even further since NieR fans wanted to taste the game with their favorite protagonist.

Then again, apart from the cosmetics, there was nothing to be found in that DLC, no clue or any story that relates to 2B. The community actually loved Nier Replicant way more than NieR:Automata when it came to its storyline. But I believe that NieR Replicant was actually a pretty solid remake and, indeed, something that was needed for the series. It is a game that really learns a lot from what NieR:Automata did and just simply implements it in this remake.

If there is a new NieR game, then surely there will be a whole new cast of characters in the future Nier game. Since NieR:Automata and NieR Reincarnation both introduced different protagonists, we can expect a whole new cast of characters to be the center of attention in this next game. However, after the Nier:Automata Ver1.1a TV Series ended, I had a feeling we'd see A2 again, if not more since Accord gave her a second chance as an individual. Yoko Taro might have other plans for her. While I would certainly like more 2B and 9S, I doubt that they will be featured again.

There will be Square Enix Presents even in February, and the NieR franchise has reached a milestone this year. So, we can only expect a teaser or announcement for the next chapter in the NieR story or NieR 4. Whether it's a complete sequel or a spin-off, the series fits exactly with Square Enix’s plan to focus on major titles. For the time being, fans can only wait with bated breath, hoping that the anniversary celebrations will deliver much-needed news.