Yoko Taro, the renowned creator of Nier: Automata and Drakengard, has shared reflections on his journey as a video game director, a career that began not out of ambition, but due to a series of fortunate circumstances.
In a recent interview, Taro revealed that his appointment as director of Drakengard, his debut in this role, was due to his colleague Takuya Iwasaki being unable to take on the role because of his workload on Resident Evil: Dead Aim.
Things came to him that way
Remember that he was the most vocal team member in expressing his opinions, which led Cavia to decide that he would take charge of the project. “I didn’t have a great ambition to become a director. Things just happened this way,” Taro points out. This unexpected turn in his career gave Taro the creative freedom needed to build the dark and peculiar worlds that characterize his works.
The director emphasizes that Square Enix had little control over the final version of Drakengard, which allowed him to experiment with his artistic vision. Despite his achievements, Taro remains modest and emphasizes that his approach to video games resembles more solving a puzzle than a form of personal expression. “I felt it was a job of finding solutions within a network of limitations,” he explains.
Taro also reflects on his generation of directors, which he describes as “peculiar,” given that during his time, video games were not as conventional. “There are many odd ones, including me,” he shares, suggesting that this context significantly influenced his style and creative approach.
Thus, despite his success and recognition, Taro continues to see his trajectory as a result of circumstances rather than a clear personal ambition.
