Insider Trading Yuji Naka Has Been Arrested For Insider Trading [U]

[GX -The Spindash-]

Fuji News Network is reporting that Yuji Naka, former Sonic Team head, has been arrested for insider trading in relation to his time working at Square Enix.

While we do not yet have full details yet, FNN states that Naka allegedly purchased 2.8 million yen of shares in developer Aiming Inc. prior to the announcement of upcoming mobile game DRAGON QUEST TACT. Naka was one of three arrested for suspicion of insider trading, including another former Square Enix employee.

UPDATE [December 7]:

According to Japanese news outlet Asahi (by way of VGC), Naka has been arrested again for a second insider trading charge. Naka allegedly purchased 120,000 shares (worth about 144.7 million yen) of developer ATeam prior to the announcement of their partnership with Square Enix to develop Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.

We will continue to report as new details develop.

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[Treacher]

What a ways to fall. There have been rumors for a long time concerning his temper and ego and seeing them I thought that after the grand reunion with Naoto Ohshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Takashi Iizuka, he mellowed out by then and had such a promising future with Ivy the Kiwi? and Rodea The Sky Soldier, even if the latter’s release was botched. Then he becomes the director for Balan Wonderworld with his old buddy only to spectacularly crash and then proceeded to not only burn bridges with Square Enix but Arzest and Naoto as well. I honestly didn’t think it’d get any worse until the news just dropped so suddenly and it’s a really sad sight to behold, to say the least. I can only imagine how his family and former colleagues are taking to this.

[TSS Classic Comment Bot]

Posted By: Greatsong1

Despite Naka’s fall from grace over the years I did not expect these sad news.

[TSS Classic Comment Bot]

Posted By: Moonlite75

Watching what Naka did through the years makes me realize things : He’s a princess and we don’t know him much but whatever projects he did was a problem in them. 1996 Sonic X-Treme was not released in time because he claimed the American theme for using his NiGHTS engine without his approbation instead of making the first 3D Sonic game ever be a chance to win against Nintendo and SONY’s competition, he stole Sonic Extreme’s 2005 concept for Sonic Riders’ creation because he can, he quit in 2006 to make his own games leaving Sonic 06 being a mess, until he was at Square Enix he was not very well welcomed and making Balan Wonderworld was a mess to execute because of that and now he’s a suspect of a insider trade.

I can’t believe Sonic fans still support this guy like a star. I mean he was a great game director nonetheless but above all that it’s tilting me.

[GX -The Spindash-]

On 11/18/2022 at 3:00 PM, TSS Classic Comment Bot said:

I can’t believe Sonic fans still support this guy like a star. I mean he was a great game director nonetheless but above all that it’s tilting me.

Honestly, I fell off the Naka train quite a few years ago. There’s enough… whispers out there to suggest he’s a massive pain to work with. When it came out that he got removed from the development of Balan, my reaction was “Yeah, that tracks.”

[TSS Classic Comment Bot]

Posted By: PGags

So what exactly are his accolades? I’ve only been hearing bad news / projects coming from him in the last couple of decades.

[TSS Classic Comment Bot]

Posted By: AManFromDeclan

I just hope that all of this doesn’t inspire the world (especially Iizuka) to go cancel culture on everything that made the two Adventure games so iconic and revered.

That is one thing we don’t need.

Then again, Mega Man 11 was allowed to become a thing, despite Inafune losing his popularity. It’s just with this franchise, so many questionably bad decisions have been made over much less. Heck, we even lost an entire comic book universe and its reboot.

And it’s not like there are any lengthy YouTube videos that talk about Yuji Naka’s “downfall”, so I’m completely in the dark as to why people think all of this is okay.

[GX -The Spindash-]

@ AManFromDeclan - It’s unlikely. It’s a financial crime with a vaguely defined “victim” in it.