Former Sonic Team lead Yuji Naka has apparently left Square Enix. His official Facebook and LinkedIn pages have been updated to show that he no longer works at the company, which he was employed at since January 2018. According to the update, he left on April 30, 2021. Naka's most recent project for Square Enix was Balan Wonderworld, which he directed; it released in March of this year, and was met with negative reviews from critics and players. Neither Naka or Square made mention as to the reason for the departure, though many seem to be speculating that the disappointing sales and critical reception are behind it. For now, he has returned to his own company, Prope, which just celebrated its 15th anniversary.

Source

 

[Glyptofane]

...There was hype?

There was some hype before the demo released. It was being compared to Super Mario Odyssey and such.

 

[Jiehfeng]

I know that Balan Wonderworld is a popular game to hate on but if you look closer at the game there actually are some underlying good qualities. Unfortunately it seems that the game wasn't given enough time in the oven, so the genuinely good character design and talent that went into the game got wasted because of the terrible impression it made. If only the game had been play-tested more and delayed a bit it would have lived up to the hype.

Ah yes, the great character design, can't forget the o'l gigantic farmer.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

I've heard stories on how bad the game is, but I want to watch a review of it so I can really see myself.

 

[Justinde75]

This whole thing is just a big collective yikes

 

[B-alpha]

I would say this video summed it really well up

 

[Deleted member 534570]

Was the game really THAT bad? Wow, poor guy....

 

[Pipistrele]

Overdue... talentless hack. Never made one good game.

NiGHTS into Dreams is legit one of the greatest games of all time, and I'll die on that hill if I have to

 

[Bladexdsl]

wow was that game really that bad? never got to play it myself (they haven't or bothered to crack it )

 

[MarkDarkness]

NiGHTS into Dreams is legit one of the greatest games of all time, and I'll die on that hill if I have to

I played it 3 times now to understand your general side of this argument. I still think the game doesn't make sense. The part people remember is the one you're flying around artistically. That is a slice of the game. In your honest opinion, is the part in which you are the boy any good? I don't ask that as somebody who can probably chain things perfectly and minimize the boring parts... can a normal player find fun in that? I've gotten okay at the game by this point and can chain a lot of stuff... and it still sucks. I have given up at this point... I'll never "see it".

 

[BlueFox gui]

poor man, well he made that wii game, Rodea, that game is fun, i guess

 

[leon315]

I legitimately feel sorry for the guy, he's out of a job now. I remember Square Enix said they'd only give him one chance at a 3d platformer to see if he could continue working with them.

that's the result when you have 90% of budget on those creepy dance CGI.

 

[eyeliner]

NiGHTS into Dreams is legit one of the greatest games of all time, and I'll die on that hill if I have to

No, it is not. Not even n by a long shot. That's basically a very long tech demo.

 

[Dust2dust]

Watched a few reviews, a one button game? Even a Gameboy has 2 buttons, what is wrong with this guy

Hey, one button games are perfectly fine! (looking at my old Atari 800 and it's joystick).

 

[sarkwalvein]

Watched a few reviews, a one button game? Even a Gameboy has 2 buttons, what is wrong with this guy

Classic Sonic games are one button games.
Even the Megadrive/Genesis had 7 buttons plus Start.

 

[matpower]

Watched a few reviews, a one button game? Even a Gameboy has 2 buttons, what is wrong with this guy

Remember, one of the core philosophies (and what makes classic Sonic so good and easy to pick up) of the first Sonic the Hedgehog was that it should only use a single action button, unlike Mario's run-and-jump dual action button setup.
I haven't played Balan but on paper it is perfectly fine for a game to use just a single action button.

 

[x65943]

Remember, one of the core philosophies (and what makes classic Sonic so good and easy to pick up) of the first Sonic the Hedgehog was that it should only use a single action button, unlike Mario's run-and-jump dual action button setup.
I haven't played Balan but on paper it is perfectly fine for a game to use just a single action button.

In theory it can be done well, but in a 3d platformer not being able to jump is a fatal flaw

 

[Kwyjor]

poor man, well he made that wii game, Rodea, that game is fun, i guess

It doesn't seem to have gotten very good reviews at all.

Ivy the Kiwi seems to be sort of well-regarded, at least.

 

[SG854]

Yuji Naka looks like my Dentist

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Overdue... talentless hack. Never made one good game.

I guess Shigeru Miyamoto hasn't either.

 

[tech3475]

Remember, one of the core philosophies (and what makes classic Sonic so good and easy to pick up) of the first Sonic the Hedgehog was that it should only use a single action button, unlike Mario's run-and-jump dual action button setup.
I haven't played Balan but on paper it is perfectly fine for a game to use just a single action button.

One problem with that comparison is that the game play is radically different, the down button was/is effectively the second ‘action’ button (used for making Sonic roll and later the spin dash).

As soon as Sonic went 3D, they used multiple buttons because they ‘lost’ the down button to movement.