Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka catches a $1.2 million fine over insider trading, but avoids jail time

Yuji Naka, co-creator of Sonic and director of Balan Wonderworld, has been fined $1.2 million for insider trading.

Late last year, Naka was arrested for alleged insider trading (at the time), having bought shares in Ateam Entertainment Inc, the developer of Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier, before it was released. either game was publicly announced. Now, according to the Japanese media hihi (thank you, pc gamer), Naka has been fined a very large amount. The fine is divided into two parts, one that is not too much compared to a ¥2 million (about $14,000) charge, the other is an additional ¥171 million (about $1.2 million) fine.

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as guessed by SEGA bitsa report of yahoo news he notes that he received a prison sentence of 2.5 years, but in turn also received a four-year suspension. He apparently showed “remorse”, which led to the suspension of the sentence. Essentially, the game developer won’t actually go to prison, although if he does something else illegal, the suspension may be removed. So unless Naka decides to be a bit of a fool, I wouldn’t expect to hear anything about him going to prison.

When Naka appeared in court in March, he openly admitted to the claims brought against him, so it was a bit of a dry case. However, Naka has not made a public statement about the fine at this time.

Naka originally worked for Sega from 1984 to 2006, most notably co-creating Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as creating Nights Into Dreams. He formed his own studio back in 2006, though he never made any very notable games. In 2018, the developer joined Square Enix, where he went on to direct 2021’s Balan Wonderworld. Naka subsequently left Square Enix in 2022, and here he is over a year later in a bit of a mess.