Sonic creator Yuji Naka arrested for suspected insider trading

Former Square Enix employee accused of buying $20,000 shares in partner studio before game announcement

Kirk McKeand | Nov 18, 2022

Sonic creator Yuji Naka arrested for suspected insider trading /

Former Square Enix employee and Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka has been arrested for suspected insider trading.

Japanese news site FNN reported that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Naka in connection with an ongoing investigation around insider trading among some Square Enix employees.

Naka is accused of buying 10,000 shares in developer Aiming for ¥2.8 million ($20,000), ahead of the announcement of Dragon Quest Tact, a mobile spin-off of one of the most popular JRPG series worldwide.

Two more former Square Enix employees, Taisuke Sasaki and Fumiaki Suzuki, were also arrested for allegedly purchasing a combined 162,000 shares for ¥47.2 million ($337,250).

Insider trading is where people use insider knowledge to buy shares cheaply ahead of a business move that will make the shares worth more. At this time, it is unclear if any of the three accused have sold their shares.

Naka left Square Enix in the middle of 2021 after releasing Balan Wonderworld, a platforming game that was critically panned.

Naka would later claim that he was removed as game director six months before launch, and he filed a lawsuit against Square Enix to clear the reputational damage he received due to the game's poor quality.

Published Nov 18, 2022

KIRK MCKEAND

Kirk McKeand is the Content Director for GLHF. A games media writer and editor from Lincoln, UK, he won a Games Media Award in 2014 in the Rising Star category. He has also been nominated for two Features Writer awards. He was also recognized in MCV's 30 Under 30 list in 2014. His favorite games are The Witcher 3, The Last of Us Part 2, Dishonored 2, Deus Ex, Bloodborne, Suikoden 2, and Final Fantasy 7. You can buy Kirk McKeand's book, The History of the Stealth Game, in most bookstores in the US and UK. With a foreword written by Arkane's Harvey Smith, The History of the Stealth Game dives deep into the shadows of game development, uncovering the surprising stories behind some of the industry's most formative video games. He has written for IGN, Playboy, Vice, Eurogamer, Edge, Official PlayStation Magazine, Games Master, Official Xbox Magazine, USA Today's ForTheWin, Digital Spy, The Telegraph, International Business Times, and more. Kirk was previously the Editor-in-Chief at TheGamer and Deputy Editor at VG247. These days he works as the Content Director for GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage, serving media partners across the globe. You can check out Kirk McKeand's MuckRack profile for more. Email: kirk.mckeand@glhf.gg