Reviewers seem too :p

Nioh 87, Nier 90, Zelda 98.... on metacritic.

Yeah Sony should space out their games like Microsoft does. 

It was calculated, guys. One can say "Nioer" and then he has to buy both games, actually.

This conversation happened at a local game store actually.

I think it's primarily an issue of infortunate timing, as if they were 6+ months apart it wouldn't be issue as much. Oh well.
I think for people already into Nier series it isn't a problem as much as it is for generic gamer not already aware of the series.
If they wanted to better distinguish their product for such customers, they probably should have switched the "sub-title",
e.g. instead of "Nier: Automata", they could have used "Automata: A Nier Requiem" or some such.

It's worth pointing out that in Japan as well as China, Nioh and Nier are rendered in different characters / pictograms:
Nioh: 仁王 (both, which is actual word with meaning, a demonic guardian of buddhism)
Nier: ニーア (JAP phonetics for foreign word, no meaning) / 尼爾 (CHI, seeming transliteration of "Neal", i.e. foreign nonsense)
I had assumed Nier had significance in Chinese as it sounded Chinese to me, but guess not...? (unless Google translate failed me)

From an objective marketing standpoint, both names are probably bad.
Nier is a fantasy word (?), a single syllable and there are no "sharp" letters (I don't know the exact term; something like s or t), this all makes it hard to remember for Westerners. But it has the second half "Automata" which definitely helps a bit.
Nioh is a japanese word (?) and hard to remember as well. Also, at least I sometimes got it confused with Ne-Yo (the singer) and Playstation "Neo" whenever I heard it in a podcast and the likes.

That aside, Nier has its core following and I'm sure that at least 95% of the first-week buyers played or at least knew about its prequel. I don't have think Nier has legs in terms of sales.

Nioh got much hype by just being similar to Dark Souls in game mechanics. I'm sure that 90% of the first week buyers also played and liked a Soulsborne game before. And its sales are already satisfying.

Aura7541 said: So what you're saying is that there should be a Nier/Nioh crossover, aka Nieroh?

A Team Ninja / Platinum Games collab done right would be legendary.

The titles are unfortunately similar, but the only people who should be concerned are those asking for one of the games and not the other.
"Remember I want NiER, not NiOH."
"Sure sure son, if we get you one of those video things we'll get it right."
*Buys Need for Speed*

You are aware i was as serious as a demon badger hiding in treasure chests, arent you?

Thankfully Nioh has sold very well at launch.

Nier has only launched in Japan but has debuted exceptionally.

Horizon we only have UK info so far but it's looking like a WW Smash hit.

That's the beauty of the ps4. Multiple titles can release close together and all beast.

MLB releasing next month will probably sell over a million lifetime. And ghost recon ps4 version will probably have very impressive sales too.

PS4 is a hardware and software beast.