Nier Automata was made without trying to appeal to Western audiences and yet it got lots of success in the West
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Breath of the Wild released at almost the exact same time, had universal acclaim, and swept Western awards. I can get excluding that one because "Nintendo," but worth mentioning.
I think Automata's importance was being a breakthrough success. Drakengard/Nier wasn't very mainstream or even that big in the weeb groups. Then Automata comes out of nowhere and knocks it out of the park. The important part was showing that the western market can be entered successfully without pandering to it. An important example for smaller devs.
Then again... PocketPair came along in 2023 said, "Americans like guns, right?" and sold 15m copies in one month.
Well that's because they were made by Cavia, a mostly anime license slop making company, so they weren't exactly big name worthy and the combat was less than stellar. Automata's biggest reason for success, besides the butt, was getting Platinum, a hugely popular company, to develop the gameplay element to cover their weaknesses.
So unfortunately I think the biggest takeaway there is "have your small indie creator get a popular company to risk their budget/time on him and you might be universally acclaimed." Because without Platinum involved, it absolutely would have remained a cult little title like Gestalt was.