Yuji Naka Joins Square-Enix

[Marcello]

In case the Tweet disappears:

Quote

Just a quick note to let you know, I joined SQUARE ENIX in January.
I’m joining game development as before, and strive to develop games at SQUARE ENIX.
I aim to develop an enjoyable game, please look forward to it.

11:24 AM - 22 Jan 2018

 

 

Huh. Can't say I expected that. I'd have thought he'd continue to work closer to Nintendo with Prope. I'm curious to see what he does. And what this means for Prope.

[Sean]

At least the guy's getting work again. The Wii version of Rodea the Sky Soldier is proof positive that he's still got the skills to make games as charming as Saturn-era Sonic Team.

[Teoskaven]

It's not even the first time a person heavily involved in Sonic games has joined Square-Enix; the guy who made the Hedgehog Engine went to them to make the Luminous Engine.

I really wonder what he's gonna work on, a new IP or a new title for a pre-existing franchise. Would be hilarious if he will join the team of Hideo Baba.

[Indigo Rush]

I guess Propey is a nopey, more than I could hopey.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

5 minutes ago, Indigo Rush said:

I guess Propey is a nopey, more than I could hopey.

Hmph. Seems he's not the smartest business runner. Goes to show,  you get what you deserve when you pull a stunt like he did that really put a dent into Sonic 06's development time, the way he did just leaving in the middle of production.

If there's one person I wouldn't trust with another Sonic game,  it's Yuji Naka.

[Tornado]

The last thing I'm going to take Naka to task over is bailing out of that sinking ship.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

12 minutes ago, Tornado said:

The last thing I'm going to take Naka to task over is bailing out of that sinking ship.

 He caused quite a bit of the sinking. I'm gonna take him up to task for that. 

[Blue Blood]

41 minutes ago, Ini Miney Jovahexeon said:

 He caused quite a bit of the sinking. I'm gonna take him up to task for that. 

The Sonic series had been in troubled waters for years before '06 hit and Naka was growing increasingly unsatisfied with his position as producer over something more hands-on and technical. No doubt '06 would have been just as much of a disaster whether he stayed or left, so I've no issues with the guy hopping in a life boat before the ship took him down with it.

[Wraith]

Square Enix is iconic for how poorly manages they are so this makes meaa bit nervous.  Hopefully he's able to just make a fun action game without much interference. 

1 hour ago, Ini Miney Jovahexeon said:

 He caused quite a bit of the sinking. I'm gonna take him up to task for that. 

Lol, so you know what went on during 06's development? 

[pppp]

21 minutes ago, Josh said:

Square Enix is iconic for how poorly manages they are so this makes meaa bit nervous.  Hopefully he's able to just make a fun action game without much interference. 

Lol, so you know what went on during 06's development? 

We do thanks to articles and interviews:

https://andrearitsu.com/2015/08/01/just-how-did-sonic-2006-happen/

Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the sources, here's the one that I find the most scandalous:

http://info.sonicretro.org/Yojiro_Ogawa_interview_by_Kikizo_(February_20,_2007)

Quote

Yojiro Ogawa: Since, as a company, we usually produce titles on multiple platforms, and we already had the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of Sonic under development, as a company we were told that we would also need to release a Sonic title for the Wii close to launch. When the team looked at the controls and the hardware, we realised that the hardware was very different compared to the 360 and PS3 version that was under development, and that we wouldn't be able to convert the game to Wii. So we started a completely different title.

Basically Ogawa was directing 06 for the PS360 consoles, then left the project with a portion of the development team to direct what became Secret Rings, leaving Nakamura with a reduced staff count despite still having the same deadline. The original idea was to port 06 to the Wii, but when he realized that wasn't feasible, he decided to just abandon the project all together and start a new game from scratch with the Wii porting team, instead of going back to finish what he started. Naka was still the producer while this was still going on and yet he just allowed this clear recipe for disaster to happen, doing nothing to stop it.

Just because you're feeling tired of your job, that's no excuse for being incompetent at it.

Miyamoto moved on from Zelda and Mario for stuff like Pikmin and Wii Music, but he did not neglect his producing duties.

[Wraith]

8 minutes ago, pppp said:

We do thanks to articles and interviews:

https://andrearitsu.com/2015/08/01/just-how-did-sonic-2006-happen/

Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the sources, here's the one that I find the most scandalous:

http://info.sonicretro.org/Yojiro_Ogawa_interview_by_Kikizo_(February_20,_2007)

Basically Ogawa was directing 06 for the PS360 consoles, then left the project with a portion of the development team to direct what became Secret Rings, leaving Nakamura with a reduced staff count despite still having the same deadline. Naka was still the producer while this was still going on and yet he just allowed this clear recipe for disaster to happen, doing nothing to stop it.

Just because you're feeling tired of your job, that's no excuse for being incompetent at it.

So based of of this, you're certain Naka is directly responsible for this and not the Sega execs that were notorious for sacrificing quality for their bottom line before and after this, right? How do  know he didn't leave specifically because he was against this choice? The quotes from actual developers in the articles only blame the deadlines given.

Nothing here implies Naka was  responsible for the decision or that he could do anything to stop it. You guys are clinging onto fantasies because you want someone to blame.

[pppp]

2 minutes ago, Josh said:

So based of of this, you're certain Naka is directly responsible for this and not the Sega execs that were notorious for sacrificing quality for their bottom line before and after this, right? How do  know he didn't leave specifically because he was against this choice? The quotes from actual developers in the articles only blame the deadlines given.

Nothing here implies Naka was  responsible for the decision or that he could do anything to stop it. You guys are clinging onto fantasies because you want someone to blame.

I can ask you the same question, how do you know he left because he was against this choice? I can only conclude stuff from what I know, and let's not forget this wasn't the first time he did this, he left the studio he worked on after Sonic 1 and went to America because he didn't like dealing with the executives at SEGA. This guy just leaves something he's involved on when things don't go exactly the way he wants, I wouldn't be surprised if this move to Square was similar.

Also no need to be insulting and call me delusional, by that logic I could say you're clinging to fantasies because you love Naka and you don't want people calling out the bad stuff he's done.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

16 minutes ago, Josh said:

Nothing here implies Naka was  responsible for the decision or that he could do anything to stop it. You guys are clinging onto fantasies because you want someone to blame.

Perish the thought. I'm not saying Naka is the only sole person to blame. I'm stating that I'm not giving him a pass for abandoning the project and contributing to its downfall. Seriously, a lot of people treat him like a Sonic dev who could do no wrong, when that's quite far from the truth.

 

1 hour ago, Blue Blood said:

The Sonic series had been in troubled waters for years before '06 hit and Naka was growing increasingly unsatisfied with his position as producer over something more hands-on and technical.

Well, apparently Sonic 06 was the project that was supposed to rectify such. Far more often than not game or team management producer is a role in the division with high responsibilities over the game. No mater how upset they may be, leaving smack dab in the middle of a game as big as Sonic 06's development is petty, unless the company was treating him as bad as say Konami or Ea tends to treat their employees.

 

16 minutes ago, Josh said:

The quotes from actual developers in the articles only blame the deadlines given.

Even on that alone. With Yuji being at the head of the game, cutting off the head definitely left the body scrambling. To the point where Nakamura who got seated in the captain's seat, tends to get blamed a bit more than one would imagine he deserves with the necessary research conducted.

Could SEGA have delayed the game? Heck yes, I'm not saying they don't share blame there, but it was still unprofessional and needlessly damaging of Naka to leave like that.

We'll never know what the game might've been like if he'd been there to complete the vision, but we can definitely confirm he did more bad, than good or harmless actions there.

[Meta77]

I find it funny people assume 06 was a sinking ship before it came owithput naka. There are enough interviews yo show he was part of way it sunk. I think most just have a chip with 06. The game could have been good but several issues destroyed it.

The staff being split to cater a wii game

No testing

Naka leaving mid production

Sega heads who still till this day refuse to delay a game but shove them out for anniversary titles

After that they just seem to not care but Sega has never been a smart company

[Tornado]

51 minutes ago, pppp said:

I can only conclude stuff from what I know, and let's not forget this wasn't the first time he did this, he left the studio he worked on after Sonic 1 and went to America because he didn't like dealing with the executives at SEGA.

Good lord. Now he's being harangued for not wanting to work under Sega of Japan circa 1991? Did you have this post prepared and have just been waiting for some Naka-related news to rake him over the coals?

 

And lol "stuff I know". You produce a couple of articles that claim Sega was actively intervening in the development of the game virtually from the start and making things worse, but you still come to the conclusion that Naka is the one to blame because he "allowed it to happen". Even during the Saturn twilight years, when the company knew the end was approaching for the hardware business and gave money out like candy for Dreamcast games, Naka never had the clout Miyamoto does at Nintendo. The company itself simply was not run in a way that allowed it.

Miyamoto can, and has, told Nintendo "No." The closest Naka ever came to that was getting mad over Sonic X-Treme's development using the NiGHTS engine, which at that point was well after SoJ was already sick of the game.

51 minutes ago, pppp said:

Also no need to be insulting and call me delusional

You can also cut the persecution complex. It's no one's fault but your own that you stormed into this thread white hot with an axe to grind over things that happened 12 years ago.

 

49 minutes ago, Ini Miney Jovahexeon said:

Seriously, a lot of people treat him like a Sonic dev who could do no wrong, when that's quite far from the truth.

I don't think anyone has treated him like that since 1997.

[Wraith]

40 minutes ago, pppp said:

I can ask you the same question, how do you know he left because he was against this choice?
 

I'm gonna stop you right here because you missed the point of what I was saying. I was making a point about how your reasoning was grounded in so little that I could take the opposite stance without much effort.

Neither of us know why he actually left...aside from what he and the developers actually said and keep saying about working with SEGA on Sonic

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119722-Sonic-Creator-Left-Sega-to-Avoid-Making-More-Sonic-Games

Quote

 "Right now I can create a game without any limitations or dealing with any outside company," Naka says. "I want to keep on creating my type of games, no matter what."

I guess he could be lying, but then nobody else seems to blame Naka for leaving either. Deadlines and higher up seem to always come up when it comes to Sonic development troubles. It's actually the only cause anyone who worked on the game brings up in the articles you linked. It's clear what the main problem here is. It's what it's always been.
 

Quote

 can only conclude stuff from what I know, and let's not forget this wasn't the first time he did this, he left the studio he worked on after Sonic 1 and went to America because he didn't like dealing with the executives at SEGA. This guy just leaves something he's involved on when things don't go exactly the way he wants, I wouldn't be surprised if this move to Square was similar.

Quote

because he didn't like dealing with the executives at SEGA.

Quote

 the executives at SEGA.

Hm.

So everyone talks mad shit about the executives at SEGA as we've established. What do we know about Yuji Naka?

...He makes good games. You wouldn't be here if he didn't. His work is about the most solid evidence you can have especially compared to some conjecture and heresay mostly thrown together by angry fans online. I don't believe in following creators blindly, but that's why I'm not trying to comment on Yuji Naka's perceived character based on nothing like you. I don't know anything about him. I've never worked with him. 

But there wouldn't be a Rodea without him. There wouldn't be a NiGHTS without him. There wouldn't be a Sonic without him. I'll always be interested in what he does next. and I'll always wonder what Sonic would have been like without garbage management driving him and so much other talent away.

Final note: Get the fuck over Sonic 06 already. It was over 10 years ago. Let's not make that topic about this.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

12 minutes ago, Tornado said:

I don't think anyone has treated him like that since 1997.

You'd be surprised. My point is that, I honestly don't think Yuji Naka returning to work on Sonic would really help things as much as some people think. We have him to thank for NiGHTS and Sonic, but he's at that point where being one of the originals isn't necessarily the best thing. Especially if some of his mannerisms contribute to hindering development.

Again, he's by no means, the only culprit, but a culprit nonetheless.

[Tornado]

That's certainly something that I don't think literally anyone said in this thread???

[Nicky Nicardo]

Hm... a possible Sonic x Final Fantasy game in the future...

I'd be down for that. xDD

[Indigo Rush]

Yuji Naka joining Square doesn't guarantee a crossover any more than Blinx the Time Sweeper a chance to have a NiGHTS cameo.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

9 minutes ago, Tornado said:

That's certainly something that I don't think literally anyone said in this thread???

Well I wasn't accusing the fine and fair folks of this thread of that. :U

[Dee Dude]

Well um... I wish Mr. Naka the best of luck to Square Enix and hopes of it being a suitable work place for him!

[Blue Wisp]

Hold on, I thought Rodea the Sky Guy was a flop that was delayed like a thousand times. The game was good? Never played it. Never interested me actually. 

 

[Balding Spider]

From Sonic Team to Square-Enix. That seems like such a lateral move.

[Indigo Rush]

20 minutes ago, Blue Wisp said:

Hold on, I thought Rodea the Sky Guy was a flop that was delayed like a thousand times. The game was good? Never played it. Never interested me actually. 

 

It definitely flew under the radar, it's release was rather unceremonious. The caveat to pay attention to though is that the Wii version is the one you need to be playing, not the 3DS or Wii U. They're about as similar as Sonic Unleashed on the WiiS2 is to the PS360 version. 

The Wii version with a 3DS downport was what Naka wanted to make, but it simply took too long and the 3DS version ended up being ported to the Wii U (because lol touchpad) making it even worse; and since the Wii U was the relevant console at the time... you can guess how that went.

Play the Wii version if you can find it. That's the real Rodea.