Although Saito Yosuke retired his “Santa Yosuke” series of livestreams some years ago, I still feel like a bit of that aesthetic permeates until this very day. Case in point: the most recent 4Gamer End of the Year/New Year statements from folks all across the video game industry. It’s from this article in which many NieR fans have been going wild with talk about the next installment in the NieR series.

Except, I feel like fans and various journalist sites are misrepresenting Saito’s quote, taking it out of context for what was intended. Saito isn’t suggesting that any of these things will absolutely occur in 2025 but rather he’s aware of the fan excitement over the 15th Anniversary and the anticipation that creates hype for news about the next installment in the franchise or other related events.

Simply, this is neither confirmation nor a dismissal for any of the aforementioned topics.

Question 4: What sort of aspirations do you have for 2025, and lastly, do you have a message for 4Gamer readers?

“Well, 2025 marks the 15th Anniversary of the NieR series, so we’d certainly like to do something to commemorate that huge milestone. We’re just thinking about what to do… I’m not quite sure about the next game or how things might unfold at this point, but I’ve certainly heard many expectations from fans, so it makes this an extremely difficult decision. As a producer, I may need to take a step back and be a little less involved, so I hope fans can be a little more patient for what’s to come.” Yosuke Saito, 4Gamer

As you can see, this statement is neither for nor against the idea of a future game being announced next year, but rather he’s simply acknowledging the fan anticipation for such a thing; therefore, it may be premature to definitively state that there will IN FACT be an announcement of a new game in 2025.

Additionally, what is acutely apparent from this statement is that they are keenly aware of fan expectations and are wondering what to do for the 15th Anniversary. It’s not something that can be decided upon easily, although should something occur next year, they’d already be well within the development stages by now (which means he knows but simply isn’t saying).

This is hardly Saito “teasing” the next installment in the series.

I would imagine there will be a Japan “End of Tour” extravaganza for ‘the end of data’ concert world tour, especially since Japan has been left out thus far. I would imagine they’d put on a big even similar to the Fan Festival back in 2022.

So, as always, I would suggest for fans to reign on the side of caution and/or skepticism when it comes to mainstream media interpretations of real quotes from official folks. I just hope that fans are able to take a step back and digest all the information that we’re given in an impartial and unbiased manner, and that includes those who would like to twist the words of those involved to rally the fanbase into a wild frenzy.

Believe me, I get the hype, but it needs to be warranted, and thus far, there’s nothing to entirely rejoice about. It’s all speculation at this point. Let’s hold out a little longer before definitively stating speculation as fact!