Balan Wonderworld Director Yuji Naka Reveals Why the Game Was Released in an “Unfinished State”

Earlier today, Yuji Naka, primarily known for his groundwork for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and the recently released Balan Wonderworld released a hefty statement regarding the latter.

In a thread on Twitter, Naka revealed that he was removed as the director of Balan Wonderworld roughly 6 months prior to release. The producer, head of marketing, head of sound, managing director, and HR all influenced that decision without interacting with Naka. He then goes into further detail about how Square used a fanmade Youtuber arrangement for promotional purposes instead of an original composition, a truly eye-opening revelation.

Due to this and other questionable behavior by Square Enix, Naka filed a lawsuit that prevented him from speaking out on this matter until now. He was not even allowed to react to social media posts about Balan Wonderworld, leading to inestimable dissatisfaction.

Ultimately, Naka believes Square Enix does not care about fans of their video games due to these practices and is positive that the game would have turned out better if more proper time was spent on it. Additionally, he apologizes to those who purchased and played the unfinalized product.

A translated thread of each of Naka’s tweets can be viewed below via Twitter user Cheesemeister:

“I was removed as the director of Balan Wonderworld about half a year before release, so I filed a lawsuit against Square Enix. Now that the proceedings are over and I’m no longer bound by company rules, I’d like to speak out.” #BalanWonderworld https://t.co/Ht0Zc9soBa

— Cheesemeister 😷💉💉💉 (@Cheesemeister3k) April 28, 2022