Yuji Naka is looking at some serious jail time (Picture: Square Enix)



Things are not looking good for ‘the father of Sonic’, as the former Sega superstar faces jail time and a fine of almost £1,000,000.



The life trajectories of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka could not have turned out more differently. Miyamoto’s career has seen decades of critically acclaimed games and he’s now a top exec at Nintendo, and the co-producer of the second highest grossing animated movie of all time.



By comparison, Naka struggled to find success after the Mega Drive era Sonic The Hedgehog games and eventually left Sega in 2006, before ending up making the disastrously awful Balan Wonderworld for Square Enix. And now he could be spending the next two and a half years in jail.



Naka was arrested last year for insider trading and according to Japanese reports prosecutors are calling for not only a two and a half year jail sentence but fines that could add up to the equivalent of almost £1 million.



It’s alleged Naka used his position at Square Enix to gain advance knowledge of the announcement of a new Dragon Quest mobile game and, in a second incident, a new Final Fantasy mobile title (The First Soldier). He then allegedly bought shares in the two external studios responsible for the games.



Naka has not denied the allegations and is quoted as saying that, ‘There is no doubt that I found out about the games before they were made public and bought shares in them.’



However, it’s claimed that he’s shown no remorse and that’s why prosecutors are pushing for such a harsh sentence, while Naka’s defence looks to have the fine reduced and the jail time suspended.



A final judgement will be made on July 7 but at the very least it’s hard to imagine him ever being put in charge of a major video game again. Although given how Balan Wonderworld turned out that was probably already a given.



Sonic the Hedgehog – how the mighty have fallen (pic: Sega)



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