Producer
11Naka, Yuuji
Personal Information
Yuuji Naka is a Japanese video game programmer, designer, and producer who formerly served as the head of Sonic Team. During his tenure there, he acted as the lead programmer for the original Sonic the Hedgehog series on the Sega Mega Drive. Alongside these titles, Naka directed the development of several other projects with Sonic Team, including Nights into Dreams (1996), Burning Rangers (1998), Sonic Adventure (1998), and Phantasy Star Online (2000). In 2006, Naka departed Sega to establish Prope, an independent game company. He later joined Square Enix in January 2018 to take on the role of director for Balan Wonderworld. In November 2022, he was arrested and subsequently charged in July 2023. The legal proceedings concluded with a sentence of a suspended 2.5-year prison term and a fine of $1.2 million.
