Despite this, Yoko continued to consider it the third entry in the series.[14] After Nier was released and Cavia was absorbed into AQ Interactive, Yoko left the company and pursued an independent career.[15] During this period, he took an unknown role in the development of Square Enix's social game Monster × Dragon.[16] The majority of his freelancer work involved social mobile games.[17] Many years later, Yoko teamed back up with multiple staff from the production of Drakengard and Nier to create a true second sequel to Drakengard, determining through questionnaires that the main appeal to the fanbase was the dark stories.[14] After the completion of Drakengard 3, Yoko "went back into unemployment".[18] After that, he began writing a short-term special column for Famitsu titled "Taro Yoko's Circle of No Good Thinking".[19] In 2015, Yoko announced that he had started his own company called Bukkoro, staffed by Yoko, his wife Yukiko, and Hana Kikuchi, novelist and scenario writer for Nier and Drakengard 3.[7]