Yuji Naka Has Now Been Formally Indicted Over Insider Trading Offenses

What is going on with this guy and Square Enix lately??

I had Yuji explain to me 3 times what he got arrested for, because it sounds an awful lot like what I do here every day.

I was going to make a funny joke about Tails busting to save Naka and fight his edgy doppelganger, The Ultimate Game Designer, but I'm genuinely at a loss for words

Wrong or Right, he can not catch a break.

It looks like Yuji Naka will be jaming out to City Escape in real life.

@fenlix there we have it folks, comment of the week.

Yuji Naka really fell from grace.

It really is amazing what a disaster of a man Yuji Naka's become in recent years. It seems like every time his name comes up in relation to anything somehow it always gets worse.

Woah. This is shocking. A well-known video game designer, of all people, getting arrested. I wouldn't be suprised if this will be a career-killer for Yuji Naka.

@nessisonett That's Sonic being disappointed with his own father for breaking the law. 😂

Green Jail Zone

Act 1

@strollin_stu Your comment made me burst out laughing, thanks.

Will he be taken to Prison Island?

What great birthday gift for Miyamoto. (Legit question, has he or anyone at Nintendo ever been arrested?)

All jokes aside, one can only imagine what he was thinking. His grudge with Square Enix must be real.

Seems like karma has really been catching up with Naka lately. After years of being an entitled, temperamental jerk who selfishly ruined the development of several SEGA games (Sonic X-treme, Geist Force, and Sonic '06), he has fallen so far that his career is beyond the point of no return.

Whoa when I said that game was a crime against humanity I didn’t mean literally!

Balan must be worse than I thought.

Jeez ever since Balan came out this guys life just suddenly went down the toilet.

....This may be the 2nd craziest thing I've heard this week.

Wow. Yuji Naka is like, everything Miyamoto isn't. Like a... Wamiyamoto, or something.

Uh oh, insider trading fraud? That's the last thing I would have expected.

Didn't Square Enix fired the guy already though? Who cares if Yuji Naka put money invested into another company, it's none of Square Enix freaking business unless they also own Aiming.

@strollin_stu I do that? I haven’t really noticed, lol. I just like to talk and make jokes (:

Does he have a grudge against Square?

@strollin_stu Well I’d say it did indeed!

Nancy Pelosi has entered the chat.

@Serpenterror The Judge does care.

Despite Naka's fall from grace over all these years I did not expect these news. Sad.

@HotGoomba I think Steel Jail Zone or Steel Bar Zone has a cooler ring to it.

The headline “Yuji Naka Arrested” is such a funny one LOL. Like, I understand that this is a serious situation, but what a goofy sounding headline.

Square is concerned about the concern this has caused all those who are concerned. Please look forward to it.

I won't even bother reading how many of the 45 comments so far account for the difference between "arrested in context of" and "charged with", but man, can't Naka seem to catch a break lately.😓 It would be especially saddening if the suspicions prove true, but still a hell to go through if they don't.

He's always been a shady figure known to steal ideas and even technology from others and claim as his own, but if this is true he's reached a new low.

No more going fast.

@BlueCoolYoshi The real career ender was Balan Wonderworld.

Honestly, not suprised. Dude's a colossal jerk. Also, a terrible designer.

Yuji Naka was never good

I still fail to understand why insider trading is considered SUCH a bad thing. Maybe I should go look it up, but my best guess is the system is simply just broken... But I am willing to learn.

@Daniel36 A Dragon Quest game is a big deal and the company Aiming Inc. Would be guaranteed a boost in value at the announcement of such a big contract.

Yuji Naka will have to have bought $20k in shares from someone. The insidious part is that the person who sold Naka the shares won't have known that Aiming co. had a Dragon Quest contract coming. But Naka did.

Basically its an unfair advantage to trade based on non-publicly known info, and its very unlikely Naka would have got the shares at the price he did if it was public knowledge.

Considering his attitude the punishment that will hurt him most out of this will be that people are just going to matter of factly assume that Balan was part of this scam and that it’s the only reason it exists.

@Dr_Lugae Yeah I get that, but well, even the very reputable beacon of information that is Wikipedia notes that there is a lot of debate whether or not it should be considered illegal, so I guess I am not alone in my thoughts regarding this.

Sneaky? Yes, of course it is kind of sneaky. But like the Wikipedia article states, it's very difficult to enforce the law on this type of thing and I mean... Why shouldn't you be able to profit off of information you have, if you can? I don't think the seller was forced to sell it to Naka and probably already had it up for sale anyways.

I mean, if I know Black Friday is coming up, and I know there will be a sale on games, waiting for the sale and striking when it is live feels kind of like the same thing here... I know it's not, but on the surface it feels the same.

@Daniel36
You dropped a /s I thInk? 😅

How the mighty have fallen...

What the hell happened to the guy?

@FishyS that's not funny and I reported that comment.

He should have been arested years ago.

@Nintendo4Sonic I’m not sure that making a joke about a game you like being awful violates Community Rules…

@BlueCoolYoshi In Japan.. yeah his career is toast unless he starts up his own business and does a crowdfunding campaign for Balan 2

I am sure he got arrested because he wanted to change the Formula of Dragon Quest, a major Crime in Japan without a proper Law.

@Daniel36 if you had something that told you the lottery numbers the next day and then won, you cheated the system. If you knew what product your rival company was coming out with and you made your version(a full rip off with your name on it) before they went to market, that is stealing. That’s why companies freak out about corporate espionage and leaks. Their IP(which includes plans of what they will do) makes up the bulk of their perceived worth.

If you are privy to information that isn’t public to other shareholders/the public because someone leaked info and then you “bet” on the market you are literally manipulating the company’s perceived worth hoping for a pay day. So if you for instance sell a ton of stock which panics other shareholders into doing the same you can take a company in good standing to having issues keeping the lights on. Or things like shorting stocks due to insider trading can cost other people money. People like to pretend stocks are this separate casino but livelihoods and a company’s ability to secure more funding are tied to its perception of worth. People could have their retirements tied into company stock (and usually do with 401k). Taking any route to manipulate that especially when you get a payday (that you would cash out to lower stock value) impacts others.

@Ryu_Niiyama Thanks for the clarification, though your clarification only makes it all the more confusing.

Stocks just don't make sense to me and never will. It honestly feels like a game rich folks created to just get richer. Glad I am not into stocks.

Pretty funny ngl

@Daniel36 not quite because stocks (on the stock market) are publicly traded. So it’s not just rich people. Most people that have a retirement plan consists of stocks (the good ones get stock from their company or a discount). The idea allows you to share in the company success (and failure) but to also have ownership and to invest. In a kick starter you invest money hoping for a product. In stocks you are making a financial investment in exchange for a fraction of ownership of the company. Your ownership may not mean you show up at a board meeting but just like anything you own, you can sell for profit or hold on to build wealth that can be passed on. Stocks can be confusing but I recommend you gain financial literacy. As that investment can give you a boost that you may not earn in just your paycheck. If done right it is a different revenue source and wealth builder. Never run away from financial literacy. You may not end up wealthy but it could make the difference between a comfortable life and one of hardship.

SQUARE literally "aiming" for this man lol but hey corporations X media can really transform how we ALL think of people. As he is the only one that knows the truth.

Naka is still one of my faves. ChuChu Rocket!, Samba de Amigo, PS Online are some gems I played the hell out of as a kid. Sonic 06 sucked bad but that's what happens when you and your team leave middle development.

@HotGoomba Here you go, fresh off the presses lmao:

@victordamazio I think to some extent the reason the industry is dirty is because of dirty individuals.

I think the only good thing about company ownership is that it protects everyone who works there from an individual creator who'd wait until the company has grown the IP big enough, and then run off with both the rights to the IP and all the benefits of everyone else's hard work.

Yikes probably facing some cold Nights behind bars.

@Roibeard64 NiGHTS into Jailtime

Yuji Naka is only arrested, not charged or found guilty. He could be just a person of interest.

@FishyS Pretty sure no one would gain money from knowing that, but they would definitely save money by not pre-ordering that catastrophe. Oh, and it's Balan Wonderworld.

Only people with insider info should do trading. Everyone else is just doing arbitrary financial decisions that screw up things.

There's always something up with him some drama he has with Square it doesn't help that big chaos mess of Balan wonderworld is complete failure.

@Daniel36 "It honestly feels like a game rich folks created to just get richer."

This is probably why it's illegal. Insider trading cheats the rich.

@victordamazio who was Koichi Sugiyama again?

If found guilty, he's going to jail, fast.

@Drmarioland Composer for Dragon Quest.

@victordamazio
I remember that this page mentioned him and that fact they had to wait until he died or they would lose the rights to his music (check the S-Y folder) https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/OvershadowedByControversy/Music

@Drmarioland https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld

A page detailing how creators often do not own their creations, and I helped with some examples showing why this is not always a bad thing.

@victordamazio thank you for the info

He backed Balan Wonderland, I think he's been punished enough.

I will no longer support Square Enix.

square enix is slowly becoming the ubisoft of japanese game development. so many half-baked games recently... not talking about remakes...

If only it was Sonic going "into the vault" for a few years so we could finally get Sega to attend to some other long-ignored franchises like Shining Force, Skies of Arcadia, etc..

Wonder if a Japanese judge would accept such a plea bargain? Maybe if they were an avid, longtime gamer...

He is a bad guy now.

I would enjoy reading the comments about his second arrest if the news was given a separate article instead of being an update to the last. I know I complain about it a lot, but like...come on, guys. It's such a chore to have to dig through the comments and find where the new ones begin. Would it not generate more clicks for you to make a new article and have a link to the old one for those who missed it the first time around? Sounds like a win-win to me. So how about it?

(Disclaimer: I know the above probably sounds very whiney, but I wanna emphasize that I do very much appreciate the authors and site managers at NL. Its just something that's been frustrating me for a while now, and like Nintendo itself, I wouldn't criticize it if I didn't care about it.)

What do you mean again? When he was released?

lmao

@Not_Soos No digging required. It's pretty clear if you go to the bottom of the page where the old comments cut off and the new ones start.

Again?! Is he trying to flush his career down the toilet or something?

Bruh, it's 2022 Yuji. Blast off a Tweet with the info right before u do it. Gotta use ur brain dawg.

Not the one thing you like to read or have associated with your favorite hobby, this is sad

He probably spent too much time in the computer room or looking for the damn fourth Chaos Emerald.

@Not_Soos @Olliemar28 It was such a chore to press "end" on my keyboard to get to the bottom of the page and find the latest comments. I think I fractured my wrist in the process!

Woah. This one would be bitterly ironic to boot, considering that the game has already announced a shutdown.😅

He got arrested again

This guy just can't keep himself out of troubles. Also Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier was a garbage title. Many of the losers who were excited for that piece of trash thought it was going to be a gacha RPG, instead it's just one of those lame free to play battle royale type of game. No wonder it failed miserably.

He just couldn’t escape from the city.

The big surprise from all this is that someone made a profit off of the existence of The First Soldier. It certainly wasn't Square-Enix.

@BlueCoolYoshi Apparently, Insider Trading is far more common in Japan and the Japanese Government has made continual efforts to try and crack down on insider trading. Naka being arrested is because they are trying to make an example of higher profile individuals

And you thought Balan Wonderworld was rock bottom? This man said "challenge accepted" and went through bedrock.

@Ability-King-KK Screw bedrock, he said "Imma take a dip in the mantle!"

@Not_Soos First world problems. This didn't need a second article and the older comments serve as good context for what has happened since the first arrest. You spent more effort typing this complaint up than simply scrolling down. Be better.

Once a hack, always a hack.

What are the punishments of insider trading in japan, anyways?

@Samalik I'm sure it's fines/jail time, depending on the severity and what the courts rule.

Should have been arrested for Balan Wonderworld.

Well he wants a good retirement so now he is retiring behind bars.

Yugi got in the wrong profession! He should have been a politician!

Does this mean we’re not getting a Balan Wonderworld 2 anytime soon? … ;(

@outsider83 You mean he has to stoop to their level of childness game play for taking blame....that would be first politicians that takes a fall.

@HammerGalladeBro i'm sure there have been employee's arrested before, but nintendo is likely to just fire anyone who does that can't be swept under the rug these days. almost all legal things involving nintendo that hits the news are either about a hacker that leaked something, someone selling a console modifier, fan games, or some former employee stirring up some chaos.

@SwitchForce When i commented, I was thinking about Nancy Pelosi. She’s worth hundreds of millions. When she was questioned, about insider trading, she became nervous.

@outsider83 So you think it's only her - that's a mindset of masgony thinking. Men all these centuries been doing this but it seems she the only one. One needs to think alot more harder here.

@SwitchForce are u serious? I’m not being a misogynist. I only thought of her because she was recently questioned. On national tv. She got nervous. Taking sips of water. Mumbling her response, before moving on to the next question. 🤷🏿‍♂️