Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka has been arrested in Japan for insider trading related to Square Enix’s Dragon Quest franchise. According to reporter Takashi Mochizuki and an official announcement by investigators, Naka is accused of purchasing 10,000 shares of the company Aiming, Inc. in January 2020 while working for Square Enix. Naka allegedly learned that Aiming was working on the mobile game Dragon Quest Tact, and purchased shares before an official announcement was made. Naka was reportedly arrested alongside former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki, as well as an acquaintance. As of this writing, it’s unknown whether the three sold their shares after the announcement was made.
Yuji Naka spent more than two decades at Sega, working on the Sonic franchise from the very beginning up until his departure in 2006. Naka began working at Square Enix in 2018, with the formation of Balan Company. At the time Naka’s alleged share purchase was made, the creator would have been working on Balan Wonderworld. Naka’s time at Square Enix was apparently cut short, as the director claims he was let go from the company six months prior to the game’s release in March 2021. Balan Wonderworld debuted to very poor critical reception, and Naka has previously claimed that his termination came after complaining about the state of the game.
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While Dragon Quest has never been massively successful in North America, the series is hugely popular in Japan, and has been for quite some time. Given the success of the series, it’s not hard to imagine that someone learning of Dragon Quest Tact‘s impending announcement could have acted on that knowledge for their own benefit. It’s unclear exactly what the announcement of Dragon Quest Tact did to Aiming’s share value at the time, but it’s possible that holders could have made a lot of money as a result.
As of this writing, information on Naka’s arrest is still developing. Hopefully Japanese authorities will reveal more information about these circumstances in the coming days.
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