It’s terribly difficult to be unaware of Balan Wonderworld. Touted as a new game from the fabled creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, people expected a modern classic.
But a series of tweets suggests that the input of Yuji Naka was cut off when he was abruptly removed from the project six months before release.
Six months before the launch of #BalanWonderworld, a work order was issued removing me as director, so I filed a lawsuit in court against Square Enix. I would like to tell you that the court case is over and the work order is no longer in effect at this time. use translation tool pic.twitter.com/U53SgNMh85
— Yuji Naka / 中 裕司 (@nakayuji) April 28, 2022
Yuji left Square Enix in 2021 following the launch of Balan Wonderworld, with many assuming it was due to the titles shocking launch reception – barely cracking 2000 copies sold in Japan – however it is now known that it was due to an ongoing lawsuit, filed by Yuji against Square Enix.
Reading through the Twitter posts Yuji details a series of troubling decisions from the top brass on the subject, including a troubling explanation that his own feedback to try and improve the project were ‘disrupting his relationship with Arzest’, the Japanese video game development company that was heading development for Balan.
There is even a mention that social networking discussion was banned, suggesting that an attempt to smokescreen the game was implemented prior to release.
The lawsuit has since been settled, and any restriction on discussing the matter must have been lifted to allow such a candid insight to appear on Twitter.
Perhaps the most concerning part of the news is the accusation from Yuji that both Square Enix and Arzest were well aware the game was nowhere near finished, and decided to launch anyway – effectively dooming the title to it’s current status as an endless meme.
Translated from a Tweet originally in Yuji’s native Japanese, it doesn’t get much more damning:
“Square Enix is no good if they don’t care about games and game fans.”
Yuji even mentions that in his past he would work on his games right up until the wire, making player-friendly changes right up to the last minute – citing a fantastic example of making an iconic change within Sonic the Hedgehog regarding his ability to survive while holding rings:
Sonic the Hedgehog was changed two weeks before my master up to a spec where if you had even one ring you would not die. I did things that made the game better until the last minute,and I believe that everyone around the world is still enjoying the game today.#SonicTheHedgehog
— Yuji Naka / 中 裕司 (@nakayuji) April 28, 2022
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It is a curious case, with the narrative clearly in the control of Yuji and his statements. We have yet to see any comment from Square Enix or even Arzest to refute any of the information, while many gaming investigators are now revisiting their case files on how Balan Wonderworld came to exist as it now does, with this new testimony maybe shedding new light.
Would six additional months of care and attention from Yuji Naka have saved the project? We will never know unfortunately – but this does serve as yet another cautionary tale in the landscape of game development.
Did you play Balan Wonderworld? Or just track the endless memes that arose? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
