Naka, Yuuji

Yuuji Naka is a Japanese video game programmer, designer, and producer who was the former head of Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog series of games on the Sega Mega Drive. With Sonic Team, Naka also led development on games including Nights into Dreams (1996), Burning Rangers (1998), Sonic Adventure (1998), and Phantasy Star Online (2000). In 2006, he left Sega to found Prope, an independent game company. In January 2018, he joined Square Enix, where he is directing Balan Wonderworld. (Source: Wikipedia) Was arrensted in November 2022 and charged in July 2023. They were sentenced to a suspended 2.5 years in prison and a fine of $1.2 million.