Nier: Automata first launched more than five years ago, and as of October 2022, it has finally made the jump to Nintendo Switch. To mark the occasion, GameSpot had the chance to ask key members of the development team--writer-director Yoko Taro, producer Yosuke Saito, and composer Keiiche Okabe--about Nier: Automata’s creation and the lasting impact the game has had.

I’ve made no secret that I’m an enormous Nier: Automata fan, and it continues to hold a special place in my heart as not just my favorite video game of all time, but also the game that most justifies its existence as a game rather than some other form of media. The interactivity and sudden genre shifts in Nier: Automata (and its predecessor) are its defining characteristic. I’m not sure what it means that I’ve also read the novelization and am eagerly anticipating the anime adaptation, but you can chalk it up to a mostly healthy obsession.

Below, you’ll find the full Q&A session I had with Taro, Saito, and Okabe. Their responses were translated by a Square Enix representative from Japanese to English.