Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka arrested in Japan on suspicion of insider trading

yuji nakathe co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, has been arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office for insider trading.

According to Fuji News Networkthe issue arose after Naka bought 10,000 shares of developer Aiming while working at Square Enix in 2020.

Both companies were co-developers of the Dragon Quest Tact mobile game. The special investigation unit claims that Naka knew “important information about the new game”, prompting Naka to buy 2.8 million yen worth of shares.

Two other Square Enix employees were also arrested on suspicion of insider trading after the two bought 162,000 Aiming shares for around 47.2 million yen.

It is suggested that the three were looking to push Aiming’s stock price up after the announcement of Dragon Quest Tact.

Naka joined Square Enix in 2018 and was the director of Balan Wonderworld, which went down like a lead balloon. After leaving the company last year, Naka sued Square for removing him as the game’s director six months before its release. Naka also stated that Balan Wonderworld was released into the world “in an unfinished state”, stating that they were “disappointed that a product I worked on early on turned out this way.”