Yuji Naka says Square Enix doesn’t ‘value games’ after Balan Wonderworld mess
In a candid Twitter thread, celebrated video game developer Yuji Naka revealed details about a lawsuit he filed against Square Enix and his struggle to make the ambitious but ultimately atrocious Balan Wonderworlda better game.
In the thread, written in Japanese and translated by The Verge, Naka wrote that he was removed as the producer of Balan Wonderworld six months before its release and that he sued Square Enix shortly thereafter.
“Improving a game until the very end is what being a game creator is, and it’s strange to make it impossible to do that,” Naka wrote. “I asked my lawyer to try to negotiate even just commenting on the production until the end, but I filed suit because I was refused.”
He says that he was removed for two reasons. The first involved comments he made about a decision to release a YouTuber’s arrangement of a piece of Wonderworld’s music instead of the original song.
“I thought it was wrong that a piano arrangement of the game music by a YouTuber was used in a promotion for an original game,” Naka wrote. “When I insisted that the original song be released, it caused trouble.”
Naka stated that the other reason for his release was because he took issue with the quality of work from Arzest, the game studio behind Balan Wonderworld’s development.
“The relationship with Arzest fell apart when I made comments about wanting to improve the game, or about Arzest submitting the game without fixing bugs,” Naka tweeted.
Balan Wonderworld was a musical platformer that generated a lot of early buzz; it was a new franchise from Square Enix and Yuji Naka, famous for his work on the original Sonic The Hedgehog games, would be its director. However, post launch, the game’s whimsical luster faded, revealing
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