After being found guilty in two cases of insider trading, Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has resurfaced again on Twitter. This time, Naka used the new headlines around Yu Miyake, producer of Square Enix’s Dragon Quest series, as a chance to air a little more of that beef.
In late 2022, Naka was arrested under suspicion of conducting insider trading while employed at Square Enix. He subsequently plead guilty in court last July, and was given a 30-month prison sentence and a hefty fine of 172.5 million yen (about $1.2 million). It’s been roughly 16 months since his last Twitter post but, on April 7, Naka popped out of nowhere to comment on recent developments at Square Enix; specifically on the news of Yu Miyake leaving his post as Dragon Quest‘s producer.
On April 5, Bloomberg reported that Square Enix is undergoing a reorganization, which includes Miyake, who’s been a producer on Dragon Quest since 1992, being shuffled over to oversee the company’s mobile games. Naka, who worked at Square Enix for a few years until 2021, took the opportunity to make fresh allegations against Miyake, suggesting he lied when presenting evidence during Naka’s trial.
In his post, as translated by Siliconera, Naka wrote, “This person submitted a memo written with lies (and there is proof [of that]) at the trial.” The “this person” in the equation is Miyake, with Naka suggesting the former Dragon Quest producer lied court.
According to Naka, his split from Square Enix was far from civil. After joining the company to develop his newest title, Balan Wonderworld, he claimed he was removed as director from the project roughly six months before its launch. In an April 2022 thread translated by Cheesemeister, Naka even announced he would be suing Square Enix, saying the company didn’t “value” its fans and had ignored his attempts to address issues with Balan Wonderworld before its launch. Considering everything that’s happened since then and the lack of any updates, it’s safe to assume Naka’s lawsuit didn’t really go anywhere.
