Yuji Naka, co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, pleads guilty to insider trading

Yuji Naka, one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, pleaded guilty to insider trading. This illegal operation will cost him dearly.

Yuji Naka pleaded guilty to the insider trading charges brought against him last fall. The co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog admitted that he violated Japanese financial laws by buying shares in the video game studio Aiming before the latter’s collaboration with Square Enix on Dragon Quest Tact became public. Yuji Naka admitted that he made more than 20 million yen (about 140,000 euros) after selling his investments. His sanction for this illegal deal has not yet been announced.

Yuji Naka, co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, pleads guilty to insider trading

The developer signed with Square Enix in 2018, but abruptly cut ties with Final Fantasy after its project with the company, mobile platformer Balan Wonderland, was introduced to a wider audience. He even criticized the company for firing him as director of Balan six months before launch. This man was still working at Square Enix when he heard about Dragon Quest Tact.

This illegal operation will cost him dearly.

In this story, two other former employees, Taisuke Sasaki and Fumiaki Suzuki, were also arrested for buying shares in Aiming through the same insider trading. Square Enix explains that it is cooperating with investigators and has already implemented a system to prevent potential illegal transactions of the same kind in the future. However, no one really knows how this protection works in practice, but an admission of guilt should usually deter developers who would like to exploit trade secrets from manipulating financial markets.

Surely this should serve as a lesson to those who are tempted to take advantage of this kind of information, whatever it may be.