Sonic creator and former head of Sonic Team, Yuji Naka, has reportedly been arrested in relation to an insider trading scheme involving a new Dragon Quest game.
As reported by Japanese news site FNN Prime Online, Naka is the latest suspect in an ongoing case regarding suspicious stock purchases in Japanese developer Aiming, ahead of the announcement of Dragon Quest Tact, a free-to-play mobile RPG.
Yesterday, two former Square Enix employees, Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suzuki, were arrested in Tokyo in relation to the case. The two had reportedly purchased around $335,000 worth of stock in Aiming between them just before news broke that the company was developing Dragon Quest Tact.
It seems that Naka himself made a suspicious purchase ahead of the game’s reveal, to the tune of around $20,000, with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Department now making enquiries into the matter.
Along with artist Naoto Ohshima, Naka is credited with having created Sonic the Hedgehog, and most recently directed the critical and commercial flop Balan Wonderworld, which we awarded an ignoble 3/10 in our review. Naka would later sue Square Enix over Balan Wonderworld, claiming that he was removed from the project six months before it was released.
As this is an ongoing story, we will be sure to update you as and when new details come to light. What do you think of this whole situation? Let us know in the comments section below.
