Yuji Naka, game director of Balan Wonderworld, doesn’t mince words about the failure of his title. He blames Square Enix and Arzest for “not caring about the games or the fans”.
We knew Sonic’s father, Yuji Naka, left Square Enix after the Balan Wonderworld disaster, but didn’t know that the rag between the two was that hot. The Creator chose to be heard and to convey His truth. You’ll see it shoots real ammo.
Balan Wonderworld: Yuji Naka stripped of his game
It’s unusual, especially for a Japanese developer, but Yuji Naka emptied his bag via Balan Wonderworld. Why now ? The creator had sued Square Enix. And since that ended, Naka-san has been able to speak out on Twitter without fear of interfering with the case.
About six months before the launch of Balan Wonderworld, I was fired from my job as a director, so I filed a lawsuit against Square Enix. Now that the study is over, I would like to share some additional information. I think they don’t care about the games or their fans, Square Enix is bad company. According to official documents, my dismissal was justified on two main counts.
What are two elements of discord? It all starts with in-game music, which is used for promotional purposes. In the video in question, a YouTuber plays a rearranged version instead of the original Yuji Naka wanted. The latter therefore campaigned to enforce his vision, which obviously did not please.
Things then escalated when Naka-san alerted Arzest about the state of play. Development studio of Balan Wonderworld. And the criticism was not insignificant. When Yuji Naka insisted on fixing the problems and improving the game, Arzest was more the type to submit a definitive version as is, Archi-Buggy.
In his tweets he professes his exclusion from the development. But also to the limitations imposed by Square Enix. How to express yourself in one way or another on social networks.
I find it odd to fire the director who comments on the development without consultation and then, due to lack of time, prevent him from getting involved at any level. I have been banned from sharing and liking posts on social media. However, there were a lot of nice comments, some wonderful fanart, and I’m sincerely sorry I couldn’t respond to them. So I don’t think Square Enix pays much attention to its fans.
It used to be better at SEGA!
For him, a developer should give everything up to the last second to improve a game if necessary. SEGA actually allowed him that in the days of Sonic the Hedgehog.
I think it’s been perfectly normal to ask for improvements since we made the game, and if we couldn’t make those changes, at least we could have talked about it. But apparently even that wasn’t an option. I sincerely believe that Square Enix didn’t really care about the game and didn’t want to support it.. For example, for Sonic the Hedgehog, two weeks before development was completed, we changed the mechanics so that even if you only had one ring, you wouldn’t die. We tried to improve the game until the end and I hope people continue to enjoy these games today.
This refusal to rescue a ship that was taking water prompted Yuji Naka to file a complaint. Finally, he concludes by saying that it was a pleasure to have released Balan Wonderworld in this state “too bad”.
Personally, I really think it’s a shame that Balan Wonderworld came out in the state it was. I wanted to show the world an action game in its true light. In order to, I think Square Enix and Arzest are companies that don’t care about games and fans.
Here, here, a nice atmosphere that makes us say that the two will never work together again. Such an intuition. Just in case, Balan Wonderworld is available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
