We now know the final sentence of Yuji Naka, one of the legends of the video game industry, after he was found to have committed insider trading.
As reported by IGN, Judge Madoka Hiruta found Naka guilty and sentenced him to two and a half years. Naka may find solace, however, that Judge Hiruta decided to suspend that sentence to four years.
We had previously reported that he had already received a prison sentence of two years, but that was apparently what the prosecution was aiming for. The trial had not ended until today.
The prosecution also succeeded in getting Naka fined ¥2.5 million and ¥170 million, in accordance with the severity of his two instances of insider trading. Those fines amount to approximately $ 14,000 and $ 1.1 million, respectively.
Judge Hiruta said this at the trial:
“He was known as one of the world’s most famous game developers, and had the authority to access joint development information. It has damaged the fairness and soundness of the stock market and the trust of investors.”
So, Naka will not be serving any actual jail time because of his actions. But one can say, the damage has already been done. While one can certainly cite any number of other game developers or personalities who have undone their careers via controversy, such as Curt Schilling or Mike Zaimont, Naka is unique in how high profile he had previously been in the industry.
No one can take away Naka’s importance, that goes beyond Sonic, and spreads across many Sega games, as well as the industry in general. Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Yu Suzuki were in a comparable position in Sega to Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, and Takashi Tezuka in Nintendo.
But similarly, this may make it easier for fans and gamers to talk about the unsavory stories told about Naka. For example, this story from Mark Subotnick revealed how Naka fit the picture in the enmity between Sega of America and Sega of Japan back in the day.
It isn’t clear what happens to Naka moving forward. He remains founder and head of independent Japanese game company Prope, under which he had produced games like Ivy the Kiwi and Rodea the Sky Soldier. However, at this point, he had burned way too many bridges with former employers like Sega and Square Enix (he sued Square Enix over Balan Wonderworld) and has a ruined reputation.
Unless Naka finds an angel investor still willing to fund more ambitious projects, Naka is likely going to be relegated to making smaller games under Prope, and working his later years to pay off his massive fines.
