UPDATE - 2017-02-21 A newly released Nier Automata trailer has confirmed it will be coming to PC on March 10th, 2017, just a couple of days after it launches on PlayStation 4. The announcement comes just hours after PlatinumGames admitted the PC version would be delayed due to piracy concerns.

Nier Automata May Be Delayed on PC Due to Piracy Concerns

We’re exactly a fortnight away from Nier Automata’s launch, and yet we’ve heard precisely nothing about the PC version. As the months have rolled by, the assumption has been that the PC version would simply be an afterthought after the PS4 release. At long last Nier Automata producer Yosuke Saito has broken the silence however, admitting that the PC version may be slightly delayed due to concerns about piracy on the platform.

Speaking during a recent livestream of Nier Automata, Saito said both PlatinumGames and publisher Square Enix share concerns the Steam version may get cracked quickly, so the the teams are looking at various anti-piracy measures. The recent high profile cracking of Resident Evil 7 just five days after launch is sure to have contributed to this, and it’s looking likely Square Enix is holding fire on a PC port until it’s sure Denuvo Anti-Tamper is once again difficult to crack.

Saito did however say that a Steam version of Nier Automata won’t be too far behind the PlayStation 4 release on March 7th. From the sounds of things we’re looking at a few months delay, max.

At this stage the constant battle between publishers and pirates doesn’t seem to have any winners. Publishers are always going to look to protect their IP while pirates will eventually find a way to crack it.

This is one of the rare times we get to peek behind the curtain and put and actually see a developer confirm piracy is the cause of a PC delay. How many games have perhaps never made it to PC over the years purely because of these very same concerns? At the end of the day, pirates are having a knock-on impact to PC gamers who want to buy their games legitimately.

What's your take on this, is this just part and parcel of PC gaming? Is it acceptable for publishers to escalate anti-piracy measures? Let us know!