The former director of Balan Wonderworld Yuji Naka has spoke out about his treatment by Square Enix in a series of critical Tweets following the conclusion of a lawsuit between them. According to the developer, the publisher removed him as director just six months before the Balan Wonderworld was released, prompting some of the problems that fans experienced.
Yuji Naka criticizes Square Enix over Balan Wonderworld
Speaking on his official Twitter account, Naka released a long statement to explain his side of the story following lengthy legal action between him and Square Enix. In the thread, which was translated by Robert Sephazon for VGC, the director explained that his departure from the development team was forced by the publisher. This was seemingly linked with his dissatisfaction with co-developer Arzest and his opposition to promotional material featuring new music created by a YouTuber rather than the in-game score.
One of the more critical Tweets said that Naka believes Square Enix is “a bad company” that doesn’t “care about games nor their fans.” He later explained that he felt his removal as director from Balan Wonderworld was somewhat responsible for its issues at launch. He said, “Game creators are supposed to improve their games until the very end, and I believe that it is wrong to prevent them from carrying out this goal.” After his removal, he tried to negotiate his return with Square Enix but was rebuffed, prompting the legal action.
Balan Wonderworld launched on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch in 2021 but the platformer received widespread criticism concerning its gameplay and design. Naka later resigned from Square Enix following the game’s release.
In other news, Bethesda has added some free games to Steam as part of the launcher migration, while Miyamoto has delayed the Super Mario Bros. animated movie until next year.
