Nier's Yoko Taro is one of gaming's most iconic developers, but he's achieved his aims. Now, he makes games for "dementia prevention."
Yoko Taro fascinates me. There are few developers quite like him: faceless yet iconic, storied yet oddly mysterious. I've always been a big fan of Nier and its predecessor, Drakengard, and apparently, Taro is himself. During a panel at Japanese gaming event The Tenth Mosaic, which took place from September 22 to 23, Taro apparently stated that he's achieved everything he wanted with the original Drakengard, and is now building games for "dementia prevention." Yes, you did read that correctly.
As reported by Automaton (quoting articles from 4Gamer and Denfaminicogamer), when asked 'what comes next,' Taro stated that, despite the resounding success of Nier Automata, Drakengard is the jewel in his crown. "With Drakengard, which was my first time working as a director, I was able to do pretty much what I wanted. It wasn't 100 percent, but I was able to release a game that I can say I gave my all to at the time." Note that quotes have been machine translated.
"As a gaming enthusiast, I think it's a dream come true to be able to release something you've always wanted to do to the world," he continues. "Now that I've achieved that dream, I consider the rest of my life to be just the slack. Right now, I'm just a creature of inertia, working only because I'd be in trouble if my income stopped."
As part of getting older, he says that he's been "thinking about my retirement," noting that what he's "most afraid of in old age is cancer and dementia. Apparently, if you lose your job, the chances of suddenly developing dementia increase. So right now, I'm reluctantly continuing to work because I'm afraid of dementia."
The result is that, when he "encounters many unpleasant things at work," he can "overcome it by thinking: 'this is good for preventing dementia.'
A 2026 study from Columbia University showed that stable employment during your midline years does appear to improve your cognitive awareness later in life, while lack of job security, early retirement, or removing yourself from the workplace has adverse effects. For men, this impact can be up to seven years of cognitive aging, while in women it's six.
Columbia's article released on September 23, a day after Taro's talk, but a 2025 study in Safety and Health at Work mirrors Columbia's findings. It's likely Taro is referring to the 2025 one here, but who knows. If anyone can actually see the future, I expect it's him.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.pcgamesn.com/nier-automata/yoko-taro-making-games-dementia
