It's been a rough few years for Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka, and his arrest late last year was certainly no exception. It revolved around accusations of him trading Square Enix stock (where he was employed at the time) before they announced their collaborations with Aiming Inc. (Dragon Quest Tact) and ATeam (Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier) so that he could reap the rewards of high share prices. Today, Yuji Naka attended his first day in court in Japan's Tokyo District Court.

During the trial, he pleaded guilty to violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, saying, "I was appointed as a senior manager because of my achievements in developing world-famous games as a game programmer at another major game maker. I accessed a website that posted about 'Dragon Quest' and found out about the joint development of new works in the 'Final Fantasy series', so I bought a total of 130,000 shares and earned a gain of over 20 million yen on sale."

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Sources: NHK / TBS DIG

 

[LightBeam]

Didn't they oust him out of the project half way through though?

Doesn't change much tbh
He was removed « just » 6 months before release, and in 2020 you don't change the core designs of the game when it is stated to release in half a year. So it's pretty safe to say he's responsible for the dumb game design of the game.
He apologized to the people who bought the game « in an unfinished state », as if the issue was the bugs, but it's not. It's just that the game is stupidly bad.
He also talked about how back in 1991 he could make design changes on Sonic 1 some weeks before the release, and went into trouble with the developer because he couldn't do the same.
Well, 30 years have passed since then. Games aren't being developed the same way, and seeing the final result, I'm pretty sure that even if you gave him the ideal conditions, the game would still have been utter garbage. Balan Wonderworld was just bound to be VERY bad, and the fact that he expected that he could develop a game in 2020 the same way he designed Sonic 1 tells me he's just a man from the past. It happens, there are some people like that who just can't adapt and that's fine, but it's also up to us to turn the page.

 

[xdarkx]

To be honest, he might be doing illegal stuff, but who knows why he did it...

Besides money, what other reasons are there?

 

[Nincompoopdo]

As fast as Sonic in pleading guilty.

 

[toolazytosearchitmyself]

Do you really think no one would notice the bank transfers from his pal to him??

I don't know exactly how to conduct such a scheme safely but it's probably a combination of encrypted communication software and bitcoin payments.

 

[ZeroFX]

Such a heinous crime...

 

[Foxi4]

Japanese laws regarding insider trading are exceedingly strict, it’s considered a dishonourable business practice. I guess admitting to it all is one way to save face.

 

[tabzer]

I'm glad he confessed so directly and didn't drag things on. I can see the appeal and why he would be tempted. Whether it was a moment of weakness or he was waiting for this opportunity is another thing.

 

[depaul]

Too bad... He shouldn't have left Sega IMHO

 

[AkiraKurusu]

Yuji Naka?
More like Yuji Nada.

 

[BlueFox gui]

why are people still using the "sonic's creator" click bait, naoto oshima made the blue hog, yuji naka was a programmer

 

[Naster]

What he did wrong, I don't get it?

 

[HarveyHouston]

Welp, he learned his lesson, I suppose. I doubt he'll do it again. Hopefully, he won't see much jail time, if any.

 

[tech3475]

What he did wrong, I don't get it?

Insider Trading.

Basically in this case he knew about upcoming projects before they were announced to the public, bought a bunch of shares and then sold them when that knowledge went public because said news caused the share price to increase.

(Here's a link to a US site explaining it, obviously details may vary depending on jurisdiction):
https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/insider-trading

 

[codezer0]

Yuji can now submit this run to GDQ.
Runner: Yuki Nala
Category: Court% no major glitches

May well be a world record.

 

[FAST6191]

I don't know Japanese proceedings that well (and they are quite different to western courts in many ways) but was this him being tricked into admitting it or how they do plea deals over there?

why are people still using the "sonic's creator" click bait, naoto oshima made the blue hog, yuji naka was a programmer

Much like nobody has quite figured out who makes a film (director, cinematographer, screenplay author, lead actors, dude financing it, UK also seems to recognise composer https://www.gov.uk/copyright/how-long-copyright-lasts ) then I guess we have to have the same debate for games. I would submit that programmer, especially back then, is responsible for much of the feel of the game.

There are much worse crimes than insider trading. If I could get away with insider trading, I'd do it in a heart beat.

While it is one of those hard to point at an immediate victim crimes if it is allowed to play out again and again soon people lose trust in the stock markets, and at that point your advanced economy is in a lot of trouble (people can't retire because their pension went up in smoke*, nobody invests in more innovative companies, fewer people invest in anything reducing money to play around with in the market. It is up there with printing fake money really for things that can screw up an economy in a hurry, and why rich establishment types do go to jail/get massive fines for it where they are almost untouchable otherwise.

*and as only old people vote the politician that promises to fix that gets himself and his party elected.

 

[Foxi4]

I don't know Japanese proceedings that well (and they are quite different to western courts in many ways) but was this him being tricked into admitting it or how they do plea deals over there?

He’s honestly better off admitting it. Not doing so opens him to discovery which would spill his other financials, and he’s likely to get a lesser sentence. Insider trading carries a penalty of a maximum of 5 years in prison and up to a 5 million yen fine, I suspect he’d like to avoid jail time, the fine is far more manageable. He’ll lose more money being out of a job for any amount of time than he will by paying the fine, not to mention the whole pesky business of being behind bars. Moreover, he can only be punished if he received direct financial gain, so if he didn’t profit from it, he’s likely to get off the hook entirely.

 

[FAST6191]

He’s honestly better off admitting it. Not doing so opens him to discovery which would spill his other financials, and he’s likely to get a lesser sentence. Insider trading carries a penalty of a maximum of 5 years in prison and up to 5 million yen, I suspect he’d like to avoid jail time, the fine is far more manageable. He’ll lose more money being out of a job for any amount of time than he will by paying the fine, not to mention the whole pesky business of being behind bars.

I have no issue with the plead out or face trial (which in Japan is way stacked against you -- you are pretty much assumed guilty and almost have to prove your innocence, and in the west they might try their hand and risk a loss but in Japan they almost certainly have you dead to rights) concept but it was the timings that confused me. Elsewhere if you are going to do it on day one then you would have presumably plead out in pre trial for a lesser sentence, if it happens in trial it is either your testimony, some kind of outburst or your witnesses screwing up somewhere, or you did not contest a charge but are going on to face others (I stole the car but did not kill those pedestrians sort of thing).

I equally don't know Japanese discovery/disclosure rules but other than them having got their guy for something I am not sure how this can shield him -- you go down for something like this and I would have assumed they already had everything up to and including a 3d scan of his colon prior to that.

 

[Foxi4]

I have no issue with the plead out or face trial (which in Japan is way stacked against you -- you are pretty much assumed guilty and almost have to prove your innocence, and in the west they might try their hand and risk a loss but in Japan they almost certainly have you dead to rights) concept but it was the timings that confused me. Elsewhere if you are going to do it on day one then you would have presumably plead out in pre trial for a lesser sentence, if it happens in trial it is either your testimony, some kind of outburst or your witnesses screwing up somewhere, or you did not contest a charge but are going on to face others (I stole the car but did not kill those pedestrians sort of thing).

I equally don't know Japanese discovery/disclosure rules but other than them having got their guy for something I am not sure how this can shield him -- you go down for something like this and I would have assumed they already had everything up to and including a 3d scan of his colon prior to that.

That’s a fair point, I suppose you don’t really need a trial if you’re going to plead guilty out of the gate. I suppose they want to explore the matter further since it takes two to tango, at least, but that’s something for the police to handle. How odd. He must’ve come to this conclusion after consulting with his legal team.

 

[Viri]

Apparently his insider trading earned him almost 1 million USD. Which, god damn, he went overboard! If you're gonna break the law, chill out a bit. lol

 

[Naster]

Insider Trading.

Basically in this case he knew about upcoming projects before they were announced to the public, bought a bunch of shares and then sold them when that knowledge went public because said news caused the share price to increase.

(Here's a link to a US site explaining it, obviously details may vary depending on jurisdiction):
https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/insider-trading

How's that illegal? Some people know more about shares some people less. Isn't he did a good thing for company by buying it's shares?