Philip Rebohle, DXVK’s founding developer, stated in an interview that he started the project “to get one specific game to work”. Later, he explained in a forum post that he was a bit of a Nier fanboy, and that it was a relatively simple game to use as a test subject for DXVK.
Rebohle was later contacted and hired by Valve. Wine already had a D3D11 compatibility layer, but it wasn’t nearly as far ahead as DXVK at the time. It’s fair to say that Linux gaming wouldn’t exist in its current form if not for one guy’s appreciation for Nier Automata. Rebohle still works at Valve, currently conributing to VKD3D-Proton.
Best game of all time in my books, and with its success they were even able to give Replicant the glow-up it truly deserves (and fully finish it including Ending E).