Hideki Kamiya Thanks Yoko Taro for “Saving” PlatinumGames with NieR: Automata

Giuseppe Nelva August 13, 2017 1:48 PM EST

PlatinumGames Co-Founder Hideki Kamiya expresses his gratitude to NieR: Automata Director Yoko Taro.

NieR: Automata has brough its Director Yoko Taro back under the spotlight, but he certainly wasn’t the only one to rightfully benefit from the game’s success. PlatinumGames certainly received high praise as well, and Co-Founder Hideki Kamiya took to Twitter today to give thanks.

ニーアの成功はプラチナにこれまでとは違うファン層をもたらし且つスタッフの成長、成功体験、優秀な就職志望者の増加と計り知れない恩恵を与えてくれた…本来は全て俺がやらなければならない事だった…情けない話だがプラチナはヨコオさんに救われたと言っても過言ではない…感謝してもしきれません… — 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) August 13, 2017

Kamiya-san mentions that NieR: Automata‘s success “brought to PlatinumGames a different fanbase, staff growth, a success story, an increase in excellent job applicants and a great benefit.” He then continues mentioning that “it’s not an exaggeration to say that PlatinumGames was saved by Yoko Taro.” “I cannot thank him enough” he concludes.

While PlatinumGames certainly had many successful titles of its own, it’s probably quite accurate to say that NieR: Automata improved the image of the studio quite radically, especially after the discontinuation of ScaleBound in January, that used to be in development in partnership with Microsoft Studios.

Of course, Square Enix also benefited from the positive sentiment surrounding NieR: Automata, that figured among the reasons behind the publisher’s latest solid quarterly results, after shipping over 1.5 million units worldwide by the end of May, performing “significantly above” Square Enix’s expectations.

That being said, Hideki Kamiya makes for a great Yoko Taro lookalike.

The game is currently available for PS4 and PC, and if you’re not familiar with it, or with why it’s so widely appreciated, you can read our review.