Veteran Producer Yuji Naka's Tenure At Square Enix Is Done

It appears that Square Enix has parted ways with Yuji Naka. The former president of Sega and often considered the father of Sonic the Hedgehog's time with Square Enix ends abruptly, following the release of Balan Wonderwold, the only title he was credited working on since being hired in 2018. According to Naka's Facebook profile page, Square Enix is listed as past employment and his status update on April 29th posts that he left almost two months ago. News sites have only just recently been picking up on the announcement.

After a demo that did nothing appease gamers' hopes of it being a return to form for Naka and his team, Balan Wonderworld was released March 26th to very unfavorable reviews. Critics noted the game's incredibly vanilla and uninspired difficulty, terrible frame rate inconsistencies, and poorly thought out ideas culminating to a platform game that aimed towards younger audiences, but does little to demand even the most basic of challenges from the player. Accurate sales figures were tough to find, but its opening week numbers indicated less than 2,100 copies sold in Japan.

It had been speculated that Square Enix allowed Naka to direct Balan Wonderworld, with the company determining his future on how successful it was, so he was apparently on a pretty short margin of error. Naka himself stated in 2020 that this was his "one chance" to make a 3D platformer with Square Enix. 

Naka is currently back with PROPE ltd.

SOURCES: MyNintendoNews, Sonic Stadium   

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