‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Game Creator Naka Yuji Arrested in Japan

‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ game creator Naka Yuji is reported to have been arrested in Japan!

As reported, Naka Yuji was arrested by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office Friday on charges of insider trading.

Naka was arrested under Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

According to the media reports, two other men, a former Square Enix employee and his acquaintance, have also been arrested for pre-announcement purchases of Aiming shares.

While it is not yet known whether Naka Yuji and the other suspects had sold their shares in Aiming.

According to an official announcement made by investigators, Naka allegedly obtained sensitive information regarding a new game for smartphones in the popular “Dragon Quest” series in January 2020, while employed by major game maker Square Enix.

The game was being developed by Square Enix and online game production company Aiming.

Naka allegedly purchased 10,000 shares of Aiming stock for approximately JPY2.8 million ($20,000), a violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, prior to the announcement of the information.

Naka, 57 was working for Sega in the late 1980s when he came up with the idea for the “Sonic” game as a competitor for the mega-hit “Super Mario” game series.

Sonic released in 1991 became a breakthrough for Sega, enabling it to grab a majority market share from rival Nintendo.

Naka left Sega in 2006 to launch his own game company, Prope, making games for the Nintendo Wii device.