Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka and former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki have been arrested. Both of them committed insider trading violations.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office has determined that Naka has classified information about Square Enix's new game. At that time, the plan was to have a new title, namely a spin-off from Final Fantasy, titled Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.
From the information obtained by Naka, he also bought USD 834 thousand of the company's shares. With the hope that its value will increase rapidly, after the announcement regarding the collaboration with ATeam Entertainment, to work on the latest game to the public.
As reported by us from the Video Games Chronicle, Sasaki is also suspected of having purchased shares of up to USD 787,318 . But until now, it is not clear when the two will be tried.
As previously reported, a similar case also occurred. Naka was once involved in the same scheme, regarding the game Dragon Quest Tact.
Before Aiming's title was finally released, he also brought in around 10,000 shares. For the money disbursed reached USD 20 thousand.
Upon Naka's first arrest, Square Enix was already committed to cooperating with the authorities. They stated that the incident was handled strictly.
"We deeply regret the great concern this has caused to all concerned. We have dealt with this incident rigorously, including internal disciplinary action taken against the suspected employee," Square Enix said.
As additional information, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier has launched on mobile. Gamers can enjoy it via Android (Google Play Store) and iOS (App Store).