toco toco

Yoko Taro, Game Creator

In this episode, we spend the day in Osaka with Yoko Taro, director of the famous Drakengard and NieR series. Our first stop will be at PlatinumGames, the studio that was in charge of developing Yoko’s most recent title: NieR: Automata. During development, Yoko Taro lived between Tokyo and Osaka, often meeting in Tokyo with Square Enix’s producer Yosuke Saito, who first suggested the game to be developed by PlatinumGames. Yoko will introduce us to his rather peculiar work style, before taking us to Shinsaibashi at THE SILVER BALL PLANET, an arcade specialized in vintage pinball machines. He will share with us his fascination for pinball and the little universes contained within each machine. We will then continue our conversation at his apartment where he will tell us more about his philosophy and his work. After dusk, we will head with Yoko to Osaka’s dynamic Dotombori area for drinks with the producer Yosuke Saito and Takahisa Taura, who worked as a game designer and had a key role on NieR: Automata according to Yoko; the three of them will recall fun stories from the development of the game.