Square Enix Says It Can Recommend Balan Wonderworld 'With Confidence' Amid Lawsuit

gamerant.com:

Originally billed as the grand return to form for Sonic the Hedgehog designer Yuji Naka, Balan Wonderworld launched in 2021 to a very critical audience, with the vast majority of reviewers and early adopters panning the game for its shortcomings and an apparent lack of gameplay depth. Shortly afterward, Naka proclaimed that he had sued the publisher, Square Enix, due to various disagreements about the game's development.

When news of the legal dispute between Yuji Naka and Square Enix over Balan Wonderworld first broke, Square Enix failed to offer any further information on the matter. Now, however, the company finally acknowledged the lawsuit and offered a bit of insight as to what the higher-ups think about the game, and it doesn't seem like it meshes all that well with the general community assessment.

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Naka wasn't shy about discussing the details of the rift between him and Square Enix, but the publisher is keeping a tight lid on its side of the issue. While the company acknowledged the existence of Naka's lawsuit as part of its latest earnings briefing, the representative declined to offer any further commentary. It's clear, however, that the fallout surrounding this particular release may lead to the creator of Balan Wonderworld possibly retiring from the gaming industry for good.

As part of that same Q&A, the Square Enix representative also took the opportunity to say that Balan Wonderworld «is a game that [they] recommend with confidence,» seemingly disregarding the almost unanimously negative reception that the game's had since release. In fact, Balan has been widely panned as one of the worst games of 2021 according to Metacritic, and it doesn't seem to have left a positive