As the Sonic series celebrates its 30th anniversary, there are many people that follow along with the career path of one of its original creators. Yuji Naka, the lead programmer on the original Sonic the Hedgehog and former head of Sonic Team, has been part of Square Enix for the last few years directing Balan Wonderworld. Now, it seems like that is no longer the case.
Boasting a prolific career in the games industry, Yuji Naka has been part of several games such as Nights into Dreams, Phantasy Star Online, plus numerous projects in the Sonic series. As many may know, his most recent work has been developing Square Enix's Balan Wonderworld, through a subsidiary studio called Balan Company. The plot of Balan Wonderworld follows two children as they interact with Balan, a magical being in a mysterious theater, traveling to several worlds to help restore happiness to the people in them in the process.
Though Balan Wonderworld only released a few month ago, Yuji Naka's time at Square Enix has come to an end. Reporter Andres Lopez noticed that Yuji Naka updated his Facebook profile in a couple ways to indicate the change. Naka has replaced a previous profile picture of him wearing a Balan hat with a more ubiquitous headshot.
Secondly, Lopez noticed that the Balan Wonderworld director's work history changed as well. On his profile, it notes that Yuji Naka joined Square Enix in 2018, and now states that he worked there through April 30, 2021. Naka's indie game development studio, Prope, is still listed as a current occupation, which is no surprise.
The amalgamation of unfortunate circumstances surrounding Balan Wonderworld likely drove either Naka to leave Square Enix, or Square Enix to fire him. The public demo for Balan Wonderworld was criticized for being unpolished and buggy, and the official release didn't receive hugely different critiques. The game also experienced an awkward case of positive review bombing right after its release. There are definitely fans of the game, and players who truly enjoyed Naka's newest project. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to make the game a success.
With news of Naka's exit from Square Enix, it's also unclear what will become of Balan Company. The subsidiary studio was formed within Square Enix specifically for Naka, and while it has potential to create more games, Square Enix might not want to be associated with that name. Either way, while it is clear that Balan Wonderworld wasn't a success, Naka's career hasn't ended. Fans will just need to keep an eye out to see what interesting creations he can develop next.
Balan Wonderworld is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.