One of the creators of the famous video game character Sonic the Blue Hedgehog was arrested in Japan for insider trading, accused of using information that was not yet public to speculate on the stock market, AFP learned on Monday, November 21.
The charges against Yuji Naka, 57, by the prosecution date back to 2020, when he worked for Square Enix, the Japanese game publisher behind the world-famous video game series. Final Fantasy Y dragon quest.
Yuji Naka is accused by prosecutors of having bought shares of another developer, Aiming, knowing that the latter was working in collaboration with Square Enix on a new game for smartphones, information that was not yet public.
According to a document to which AFP had access, Yuji Naka, best known for having been at the origin of the blue hedgehog Sonic, emblem of the giant Sega in the early 1990s, bought 10,000 Aiming shares in January 2020 for an amount 2.8 million yen. (19,400 euros at the current price).
Two other people arrested
Aiming’s stock, which was worth less than 300 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in January 2020, had risen to more than 1,000 yen by July of the same year, when the game was released. Dragon Quest Touch Developed with Square Enix.
Yuji Naka was arrested on Friday, November 18. The day before, two other former Square Enix employees had been arrested for similar events, suspected of having bought Aiming shares for a total amount of 47.2 million yen (327,000 euros), according to documents consulted by AFP.
On social media, Yuji Naka’s fans expressed their surprise and disappointment. “Tell me that’s not true. He brought Sonic to life… I’m so sad,” wrote one Twitter user. “He has worked on so many great games. Very disappointing,” lamented another.
Source: BFM TV
