Steam News · Jul 9, 2023
Yuji Naka, co-creator of Sonic and director of Balan Wonderworld, has received a $1.2 million fine over insider trading. Late last year, Naka was arrested over alleged (at the time) insider trading, having bought stock in Ateam Entertainment Inc, the developer of Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, prior to either of the games being publicly announced. Now, as reported by Jap...
Steam News · Jul 8, 2023
Yuji Naka, the co-creator of Sonic The Hedgehog, has been found guilty of insider trading. The former Sega and Square Enix developer has been given a suspended sentence of two years and six months, and ordered to pay two fines totalling ¥173 million (around £948,000). Read more
Steam News · Jun 11, 2023
Sonic's recently announced next game Sonic Superstars is being developed by Arzest, probably best known as the team behind Balan Wonderworld. Sonic Superstars was easily the best reveal at Summer Game Fest earlier this week, as it looks like an incredibly fun return to the series' classic 2D gameplay, with some fresh twists. But it turns out the game is mainly being developed by a non-Sega studio,...
Steam News · Jun 1, 2023
Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka reportedly faces a prison sentence of two and a half years after alleged insider trading during his time at Square Enix. Following his work on Sonic the Hedgehog, Naka joined Final Fantasy developer Square Enix in 2018, twelve years after leaving Sega and working on projects with his independent studio Prope. He went on to create platform game Balan Wonderworld, which wa...
Steam News · Mar 3, 2023
Game developer and Sonic creator, Yuji Naka, pleaded guilty in court to charges of insider trading yesterday, March 2. The charges were made while the developer worked on Balan Wonderworld alongside publisher, Square Enix. Ultimately, Yuji Naka had come to know that new Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy mobile games were being developed by Ateam Entertainment Inc. As a result of the information, Naka...
Steam News · Nov 18, 2022
An investigation into suspected insider trading by former Square Enix employees is underway, and Japanese news site Fuji News Network reports that Sonic The Hedgehog’s co-creator Yuji Naka has been arrested in connection. Naka is alleged to have bought around 10,000 shares in Dragon Quest Tact developers Aiming back in 2020 for ¥2.8 million (£16,800). At that point, Naka was still working with Squ...
Steam News · May 15, 2022
Developer Square Enix briefly touched on Balan Wonderworld during its recent full-year earnings call, after the game's director Yuji Naka recently discussed his lawsuit against the company. Last month, Naka revealed that he had sued Square Enix over issues he faced regarding the development of Balan Wonderworld. But during the company's recent earnings call, it said that "it is a game we recommend...
Steam News · Apr 28, 2022
Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, has shared that Square Enix removed him as director of Balan Wonderworld six months before the game launched. Naka shared the news on his own Twitter account, where he also detailed the fact he filed a lawsuit against Square Enix, and that he's able to share all of this as the lawsuit has now concluded (translations by Cheesemesiter3K). The renowned develo...
Steam News · Dec 22, 2021
Cutthroat practices aren’t anything new to the business world, but you don’t normally hear about them when they happen within a single company. That’s exactly what former Sega producer Mark Subotnick alleges happened at his former company in the latest episode of The Retro Hour Podcast. (Thanks for the reporting, NintendoLife!) As part of the episode titled “Dreamcast: Where It Went Wrong&rd...
Steam News · Jun 5, 2021
Sonic the Hedgehog creator and Balan Wonderworld director Yuji Naka has confirmed on Twitter (below) that he's left Square Enix. Sonic Stadium initially reported that Naka had confirmed the news through his personal Facebook page back in April, though Naka himself has now confirmed the news on Twitter. "I resigned from Square Enix at the end of April," Naka explains, as translated by Gematsu. "Whi...
