Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka has had something of a varied career since leaving Sega, initially focusing on his own company Prope before teaming up with Square Enix to direct the ill-fated Balan Wonderworld. The latter wasn't a great game, and ever since release Naka and the publisher have been engaged in something of a moral blame game, as well as a wider war of words sparked by an insider trading case brought against Naka and two other Square Enix employees in 2022.
Naka was arrested in November 2022 on suspicion of insider trading while the creator was still at Square Enix, the main accusation being he had bought shares in Aiming Inc knowing that Square Enix planned to collaborate with the studio on mobile game Dragon Quest Tact. A month later Naka was arrested again, this time in relation to a similar situation with studio ATeam and mobile game Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier.
