Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been arrested on Friday by Japanese authorities for his involvement with insider trading along with other Square Enix former employees. Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office said that Naka obtained confidential information about a new Dragon Quest mobile game, while he was still employed at Square Enix.
Former employee Taisuke Sazaki also obtained sensitive information about Dragon Quest Tact being jointly created by Square Enix and Aiming, another co-production company. Sazaki and another former employee, Fumiaki Suzuki, bought 162,000 shares between December 2019 and February 2020.
Sonic The Hedgehog Creator Under Fire For Insider Trading
The 57-year-old Naka was aware of this deal and purchased 10,000 shares for 2.8 million yen prior to the announcement. Square Enix said in their official statement:
“Today, some media outlets reported that the former employees of Square Enix were under investigation for suspected insider trading. We have been fully cooperating with requests from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. We deeply regret the great concern this has caused to all concerned. We have dealt with this incident strictly, including internal disciplinary actions taken against the suspected employees.”
Based on the ongoing investigation, Yuji Naka was hoping to profit from the increase in the shared price after the release of the game. It is also not confirmed if the creator sold his shares.
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Twitter Fans Respond To Yuji Naka’s Arrest
Meanwhile, the public has reacted to the news. Check out their tweets:
Fans would recognize Naka’s famous Sonic the Hedgehog mascot alongside artist Naoto Ohshima. He led the program in the original 1991 series and sequels, which became one of the most successful and widely popular franchises in the world.
Yuji Naka left Sega in 2006 and later joined Square Enix in 2018 to work on the ill-fated game Balan Wonderland. It was met with negative reviews and lots of controversies. The creator later revealed that he got kicked off the project six months before it was released in public.
Source: The Verge
