Nier, the action adventure role-playing game from Square Enix and developer Cavia, is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next year. That game may already have a spin-off title in the works, according to the newest Famitsu Weekly.
It appears that Square Enix will be releasing the game we know simply as Nier under the title Nier Gestalt. A second title, Nier Replicant, is shown in a teaser ad in the Japanese video game magazine's latest issue with promises to reveal more about the title—hopefully including whatever platform Nier Replicant might appear on—in an upcoming issue. Nier Gestalt's ad page features the already revealed eponymous hero, but Replicant's features an all-new unnamed heroine.
When we saw Nier at Gamescom last month, it was clear the title still needed work, but appeared to be improving over its first showing. With the title still months out, it seems a little unusual for Square Enix to possibly bank on a spin-off title at this point, given Nier's untested appeal.
Perhaps the publisher is looking at following a Compilation of Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy XIII model, spreading the property across multiple platforms to get the biggest bang for its buck. Maybe a PSP or Nintendo DS bound Nier game could spur interest in the console versions.
Or maybe we're reading too much into this, and Square Enix has a hell of a mobile phone game to announce.