Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator given suspended prison sentence for insider trading


Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been given a suspended prison sentence and fines of around $1.2 million (or 173 million yen) after he was found guilty of insider trading, according to a report from Japanese news outlet Jiji (via Polygon). While the court handed out a 2.5-year prison sentence, Jiji reports that it was suspended by four years.
That means Naka shouldn’t wind up behind bars anytime soon, as judges typically waive the prison sentence if the defendant doesn’t commit any additional crimes during that period of time. Naka was arrested twice last year for his involvement in two separate insider trading incidents, both of which took place in 2020 when Naka was working at Square Enix.
Naka joined Square Enix to work on the poorly received Balan Wonderworld
In the first case, Naka and two co-workers purchased 162,000 shares valued at around $332,000 (47.2 million yen) in the game developer Aiming before Square Enix told the public it was working with the studio on a mobile Dragon Quest game. The three men were arrested in November last year.
The other incident, which Naka was arrested for just a month later, involves Naka and a fellow Square Enix employee allegedly buying 120,000 shares valued at over $1 million (144.7 million yen) in another games studio that the company planned on partnering with. The studio in question, Ateam, collaborated with Square Enix on the mobile game Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. The judge’s ruling concerns both of these cases.
Naka joined Sega in 1983, where he helped create the iconic Sonic the Hedgehog character. After leaving Sega in 2006, Naka joined Square Enix to work on the poorly received Balan Wonderworld from 2018 to 2021. Naka says he was kicked off the team six months before the game’s release and later went on to file a lawsuit against the company.
Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been given a suspended prison sentence and fines of around $1.2 million (or 173 million yen) after he was found guilty of insider trading, according to a report from Japanese news outlet Jiji (via Polygon). While the court handed out a 2.5-year prison…
Recent Posts
- Lucid’s CEO steps down, as EV maker aims to double production
- iPhones are replacing ‘Trump’ with ‘racist’ during dictation – but Apple is fixing the problem
- The 9 Best Mirrorless Cameras (2025): Full-Frame, APS-C, and More
- Framework Desktop hands-on: a possible new direction for gaming desktops
- ChatGPT is a terrible, fascinating, and thrilling to-do list app
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010