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Sonic co-creator Naka admits to insider trading

Sonic co-creator Naka admits to insider trading

Japanese industry veteran Yuji Naka has admitted to insider trading.

That's according to local publication NHKspotted by VGC – which reports that the Sonic co-creator admitted there was "no doubt" that he was guilty of what he was accused of. Naka illegal bought shares in developer Aiming with the non-public knowledge that the company was going to be working with Square Enix, which would bump the stock price up.

The Sonic co-creator was initially arrested back in November after he had bought around 10,000 shares for roughly ¥2.8 million ($20,000).

The following month, he was arrested a second time on separate insider trading allegations. This time, he had bought 130,000 shares in developer ATeam Entertainment before word that it was working on Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.

“There is no doubt that I found out about the games before they were made public and bought shares in them," Naka said, according to TBS News Dig.

Naka worked at Square Enix for a time on 2021's Balan Wonderworld. The title was something of a flop and he departed the company later that year, before suing the publisher over its unfinished state


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.