Tag: Balan Wonderworld

Sonic creator Yuji Naka arrested for alleged insider trading

Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic and Balan Wonderworld, was arrested in Japan after being accused of insider trading connected to Dragon Quest

Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog and, more recently, Balan Wonderworld, has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of insider trading. Japan’s Fuji News Network first reported on Naka’s arrest, which Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki translated on Twitter.

The report accuses Naka and two others of using knowledge regarding the mobile game Dragon Quest Tact, knowledge obtained during Naka’s time working at Square Enix, to inform their decision to purchase stocks in Tact’s co-developer, Aiming. Naka reportedly learned of a major new development regarding Tact that the trio believed would increase Aiming’s stock value.

Also accused were former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki and their friend, Fumiaki Suzuki. The trio purchased 10,000 shares for 2.8 million yen, approximately $19,000, though the report didn’t say whether they had already sold their shares or if the information they acted on turned out to be legitimate.

Naka had a public falling out with Square Enix earlier in 2022, where he accused the publisher of derailing his vision for Balan Wonderworld and publishing what he called an unfinished game with no regard for the people playing it. He also said Square Enix removed him from his role as director six months before the game launched. The conflict resulted in Naka suing Square Enix, though details of the case were not disclosed

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Yuji Naka sued Square Enix during development of Balan Wonderworld

Square Enix removed Yuji Naka as director of Balan Wonderworld before launch, and then he fired back with a lawsuit.

In a tweet thread today, programmer of Sonic the Hedgehog, Yuji Naka, shared that a court case recently concluded where he sued Square Enix, publisher of Balan Wonderworld, after they removed him as director just six months before the launch of the game.

In a Twitter thread, written entirely in Japanese, Naka shares multiple issues he had while working with Square Enix and developing Balan Wonderworld. These include conflict over publishing the original music compositions, bugs present during development, and the final state of the game, which Naka describes as being in an “unfinished state.” Thanks to Twitter user Cheesemeister3k for a translation of Yuji Naka’s thread.

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Balan Wonderworld launched in March 2021 to a mix of average-to-negative reviews, with Metacritic scores ranged from as low as 36 for the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and as high as 51 for the PS5 version. Balan Wonderworld was criticised for a variety of issues, and was not even mentioned in Square Enix’s financial report from May 2021 following confirmation that the game sold fewer than 2,100 copies in Japan during its opening week.

Yuji Naka’s court case saw Square Enix’s work order nullified and he is no longer bound by Square Enix’s rules placed on employees and partners, but it’s too late to save Balan Wonderworld‘s main game. Naka also states that Square Enix doesn’t “value games and game fans.”

Another interesting fact from the thread is that the relationship with Arzest, the game’s developer, was “ruined” after Yuji Naka commented on bugs that required fixing before releasing.

One of Naka’s tweets reads: “Retweeting, liking, etc. on SNS and such was banned, so I don’t think Square Enix values game fans. There were many comments and wonderful illustrations about Balan Wonderworld, and I’m really sorry that I couldn’t react to them.

“Myself, I’m truly sorry to the customers who bought Balan Wonderworld in an unfinished state. From this point onward, I will be able to react to posts tagging me or directed only toward me on SNS and such.”

Naka solely programmed and published a smartphone game in late 2021 called Shot2048 after Naka’s studio, Prope, was downsized to a single-person company in 2017. What Yuji Naka might do next is uncertain, but he’s now free to speak out on the development of Balan Wonderworld and the fan reception.

Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.

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