Yuji Naka pleads guilty to insider trading at Square Enix

Yuji Naka is well known in the gaming world, having helped create Sonic the Hedgehog, working at Sega for many years before transitioning over to Square Enix in 2016. Naka made headlines in late 2022 for less-than-stellar reasons, having been caught out for insider trading, a charge that he has now pleaded guilty to. 

In November 2022, it was reported that Yuji Naka and two other Square Enix employees were arrested for insider trading. They were said to have purchased shares in a Japanese game studio shortly before the studio announced it was working on a Dragon Quest game. Investigators believed that Naka and this other employee were aware of the announcement ahead of time, allowing them to purchase shares in the company at a discount to turn a quick and easy profit.

The game in question is Dragon Quest Tact, a mobile tactical RPG, which launched for iOS and Android back in February 2020. Naka is said to have bought shares in Aiming as early as December 2019, prior to the game's official unveiling.

Now, as reported by NHK, Naka has pleaded guilty to violating Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act by illegally buying shares based on inside information. A sentence does not seem to have been handed out yet, so there should be another update to this story soon.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Naka hasn't worked at Square Enix for a while now, having left the company due to disputes over the development of Balan Wonderland. 

Become a Patron!