Balan Wonderworld Director Yuji Naka Speaks Out After Square Enix Lawsuit

Former director of Bali Wonderworld Yuji Naka spoke out about his handling by Square Enix in a series of critical Tweets following the conclusion of their lawsuit. According to the developer, the publisher removed him from the directorship just six months before Balan Wonderworld was released, resulting in some problems for fans.

Yuji Naka criticizes Square Enix about Balan Wonderworld

Speaking on his official Twitter account, Naka released a lengthy statement explaining his side of the story following a lengthy lawsuit between him and Square Enix. In the thread, translated by Robert Sephazon for VGC, the director explained that his departure from the development team was forced by the publisher. This seems to have something to do with his dissatisfaction with co-developer Arzest and his opposition to promotional material featuring new music created by a YouTuber rather than the score. in the game.

One of the more critical Tweets said that Naka believes Square Enix is ​​”a bad company” that doesn’t “care about the game nor its fans.” He then explained that he felt leaving Balan Wonderworld as director was somewhat responsible for its problems at launch. “Game creators have to improve their game until the very end, and I believe it is wrong to prevent them from realizing this goal,” he said. After his removal, he attempted to negotiate a return to Square Enix but was turned down, leading to legal action.

Balan Wonderworld launches on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S and Nintendo Switch in 2021 but the platform has received much criticism regarding its gameplay and design. Naka later resigned from Square Enix after the game was released.

In other news, Bethesda has added several free games to Steam as part of the launcher migration, while Miyamoto has delayed the Super Mario Bros animated film until next year.