A rumor that Nier: Automata's character designs were censored for Western audiences came from a mistranslation, creators say

Nier: Automata producer Yosuke Saito and director Yoko Taro have both come out to deny a rumor about publisher Square Enix's restrictions over the game's character designs.

A mistranslated English subtitle during a stream on Tuesday sparked news stories and social media posts suggesting that Nier: Automata had to adhere to Western standards to avoid being banned in countries outside Japan. The cause for the error was a double negative in Saito's comment, which Japanese gaming site Automaton says is "tricky to translate, even for an advanced Japanese speaker."

When asked about Nier: Automata's character designs, Taro said the team tries to create characters who are unlike anything else. "If Western sci-fi is filled with marine-like soldiers, we might go in the opposite direction and use gothic lolita outfits, for example," he said. "We tend to take the contrarian route."

Speaking to normal Japanese media standards, Saito then added, "There are certain things that are ethically or morally inappropriate—even if they're just aspects of a character. We try to draw a line by establishing rules about what's acceptable and what's not."

His follow-up statement is where the mistranslation in the subtitle occurs: "While certain things might be acceptable in Japan, they could become problematic in certain overseas regions. These are the kind of situations we usually try to avoid creating."

As explained by Automaton, Saito wasn't saying character designs need to change if they're problematic in other regions, but that as long as they're acceptable to Japan's standards, they will try to keep them as is without censorship by overseas publishers (the "situations" they try to avoid).

On X, Taro replied to a news post about the false rumor, saying, "I've never heard of such a thing happening," according to a translation by Automaton. Saito also wrote on X that his comments were mistranslated and that the Nier team doesn't have any restrictions on how they create their games.

Anyone who has played Nier: Automata—or any of Taro's games—would know that the man doesn't seem to hold back on the kinds of characters he helps create. I wouldn't have ever suspected that Square Enix cut a sexier version of 2B to play it safe just given, well, everything else in the game.

If anything, I think a rumor like this speaks to how translating interview comments isn't as straightforward as it might appear, and a small mistake can completely alter the speaker's intent.