Nier is not AAA.Well most casual gamers don't understand AAA the same way publishers do, but that's why I put it in quotes in the title.
What define AAA is budget... in Ubisoft definition is over $100 million and only 4 publishers released AAA games in 2017:Ubisoft throwing shade in its investor presentation. pic.twitter.com/1g0YYllnHL
— Brendan Sinclair (@BrendanSinclair) February 12, 2018
The most expensive Japan games didn't hit AAA budget... Nier is a cheaper Japan game.
Nier is much closer to the mid budget games that used to be pretty common in the west. The thing though is that the industry has moved away from these titles as if they aren't in demand. Nier shows there can still be demand, and specifically shows that from the player's perspective a lower budget title may be deemed on par with games that cost three times as much to produce.