Balan Wonderworld was a a colossal gaming failure, a shock to the gaming community with Sonic creator Yuji Naka at the helm. After a disastrous release, Naka left Square Enix. It turns out that the main reason we didn’t hear more about what happened with Balan Wonderland is that Naka was bound by corporate non-disclosure agreements. He went to court to free himself of those restrictions and won.
Yuji Naka revealed on Twitter today that he was actually removed as the game’s director six months before launch. He detailed the problems he had with both Square Enix and co-developer Arzest in a lengthy Twitter thread. We have used Google Translate to present the entirety of Naka’s statement regarding Balan Wonderland below in an attempt to refrain from changing anything that was stated. Additionally, below the statement, we have added a human translation of some of the key points of Naka’s statement for easier reading.
This is the complete statement by Yuji Naka regarding Balan Wonderland and his relationship with Square Enix and Arzest:
Approximately half a year before the launch of Balan Wonderworld, a business order was issued to be removed from the director of Balan Wonderworld, so I filed a lawsuit against Square Enix in court. I would like to talk about the fact that the trial is over and the business order is no longer in effect at this time. #BalanWonderworld
I don’t think Square Enix, which doesn’t care about games and game fans, is bad. According to the court documents, I was removed from the director of Balan Wonderworld at two points. Performed by Producer, Promotion, Sound, Director, and Human Resources.
One is that YouTuber will play the game music on the promotion and release the score, so I thought that it would be strange for the ghost writer to write the score arranged to put out the original game, so the original song I got into trouble because I insisted that I wanted to put out the score of
The other is, according to the court documents, what I said about Arzest submitting without fixing even though there was a problem during development, and to improve the game I It is written that the relationship with Arzest has collapsed due to the comment by Oshima, and it is said that Oshima talked to producer Fujimoto.
Another point, in an email addressed to Fujimoto by Oshima, “I told you about the matter of gathering staff and shifting the trial version.” This decision is made by Fujimoto producer. Let’s do our best for Mr. Fujimoto. ” When I told him, the staff applauded and cheered. I was impressed because it was unexpected.
Recently, the staff who tended to sink have revived. Thank you very much. All the staff will do their best. ” However, it doesn’t matter because the schedule is decided by the producer, not me, and the tight schedule is decided by the producer. Something is wrong, isn’t it?
I don’t think it’s good that only the score of the arranged music is released to release the original game. I think there is game music that everyone knows, but I think it is the original music of the game.
I think that the game is made by striving to make it a good game until the end, and wanting game fans to enjoy it when they buy it. I don’t have enough time for the director to comment, so I think it’s strange to say that I wouldn’t get involved at all without consulting.
Since retweets and likes on SNS etc. were also prohibited, I think Square Enix cannot take good care of game fans. There were a lot of comments and very nice illustrations of Balan Wonderworld, but I’m really sorry that I couldn’t do anything.
I’m really sorry for the customers who bought the unfinished Balan Wonderworld. In the future, I think that if you only mention or tag me on SNS etc., you may be able to react.
Since I’m making a game, I think it’s natural to make a correction request to make a good one, and if that’s not possible, I think it’s just a matter of discussing it, but that’s it. I can’t seem to do it. I don’t think the game has been taken care of.
Sonic the Hedgehog has been changed to a specification that will not die if you have even one ring two weeks before the master up. To reach this specification, which everyone knows, I was trying to improve the game to the last minute, so I think that everyone in the world is still enjoying it.
It is the game creators who improve the game to the last minute, and I think it is strange to say that it cannot be done. I asked a lawyer to negotiate to just comment on the development until the end, but I didn’t listen at all, so I filed a proceeding in court.
I think that this matter has a lot to do with the results and evaluations that everyone knows about Balan Wonderworld. It’s really a shame that the work I created from the beginning has such a result.
Personally, I’m really sorry that I released the unfinished work “Balan Wonderworld” to the world. I wanted to think about various things and put it out in a proper form as an action game. I think Square Enix and Arzest are companies that don’t care about games and game fans.
Twitter user Cheesemeister also provided a more succinct translation of Yuji Naka’s tweets below:
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.
I think it’s wrong of Square Enix not to value games and game fans. According to court documents, I was removed as the director of Balan Wonderworld for 2 reasons. It was done by the producer, head of marketing, head of sound, managing director, and HR.
First, when a YouTuber’s arranged piano performance of the game music was released in a promotion instead of the original game track, turning the composer into a ghostwriter, I insisted that the original track be released and this caused trouble.
Second, according to court documents, [Naoto] Ohshima told producer [Noriyoshi] Fujimoto that the relationship with Arzest was ruined due to comments I made wanting to improve the game in the face of Arzest submitting the game without fixing bugs.
Also, in an e-mail from Ohshima to Fujimoto, he wrote: ‘I just told the staff about the demo delay. When I told them, ‘This was prod. Fujimoto’s decision. Let’s do our best for him,’ the staff applauded and cheered. This was unexpected, and I was moved…
The staff’s been down lately, but their spirits have been revived. Thank you very much. All of us on the staff will work hard.’ So the schedule wasn’t up to me, but the producer, yet the schedule being tight was the producer’s doing. Something was off.
We were releasing an original game, but only putting out an arranged track was definitely wrong. I believe that the game music that everyone can hum out are the original tracks.
I believe that every effort must be put in to make games the best they can be until the very end so that game fans will enjoy what they buy. It wasn’t right to, without discussion, remove and completely disassociate from the project a director saying so.
Retweeting, liking, etc. on SNS and such was banned, so I don’t think Square Enix values game fans. There were many comments and wonderful illustrations about Balan Wonderworld, and I’m really sorry that I couldn’t react to them.
Myself, I’m truly sorry to the customers who bought Balan Wonderworld in an unfinished state. From this point onward, I will be able to react to posts tagging me or directed only toward me on SNS and such.
I believe that when making games, asking for fixes in order to make something good should be a given, and if that’s not possible, it should be talked over, but it looks like they can’t. I don’t think they value games.
For Sonic the Hedgehog, 2 weeks before finalizing, the spec was changed so that if you have even 1 ring, you won’t die. This now well-known rule was the result of improving the game until the very end, and people world-over have enjoyed it as a result.
Improving a game until the very end is what being a game creator is all about, and if that’s not possible, something’s wrong. I asked my lawyer to negotiate my just being able to comment until the end of production, but their refusal led me to file suit.
I think that the resulting Balan Wonderworld and the critical reception it received have a lot to do with what happened. I’m really disappointed that a product I worked on from the start turned out this way.
After reading through Naka’s statement, it appears that while responsibility was placed firmly on Yuji Naka’s shoulders for the failure of Balan Wonderland, there were a variety of extenuating circumstances where he had little control over the direction the game went in. While more information is needed, it seems clear that there are some significant issues with the way Square Enix is handling game releases behind the scenes, a troubling trend that is becoming more and more common in the gaming industry.