Forum - View topicNEWS: Balan Wonderworld Director Yuji Naka Files Lawsuit Against Square Enix
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5958 Location: Virginia, United States |
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If they broke contract law, I can see suing. But it doesn't sound like that, or like anything he could possibly get something out of. Looks like a waste of his money, but it is his to waste.
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AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2359 |
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Like I said in This Week in Games, the problem is that by Naka's own words multiple people wanted him removed from the project so it sounds more like a developer revolt than one out-of-touch executive kicking him out. Furthermore, Naka's own history does not make it easy to take him at his word. This is probably more complicated, but I don't believe for a second that Naka is just some victim
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Iron Maw
Posts: 537 |
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Was going say what Aiddon said. Multiple co-workers including the producer who was a long time friend of his wanted him out. On top of this Naka already has checked past where he is known to be toxic to work with. So likely this lawsuit goes nowhere once we get into weeds of case when start testifying.
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CrisGer A.A.
 Posts: 170 Location: 世田谷区 Setagaya Ward |
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With so many people on the staff wanting him out, it can only be serious issues with the ex director and a law suite was a way for him to try to cover up the truth with hype. I am sorry for him, and his concerns if true would be of note but the fact remains that it sounds like he is not a person that can be worked under or with well. That is sad, but in the end, truth will prevail. thanks for sharing this news Anime News. of interest and a bit sad.
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MFrontier
Posts: 14245 |
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What a mess of a game this turned into.
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Rogueywon
Posts: 265 |
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There was potentially a great game in there. All it needed was for the gameplay to... erm... be completely different. I actually bought it in a sale. The cutscenes are fantastic - vibrant and energetic, with just a touch of Tim Burtonesque creepiness. The problems start the moment you actually get control, with dead-feeling movement, tedious level design, boring collectibles and endless backtracking. |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1254 |
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It truly is amazing, Matt McMuscles made a video detailing the problems about the game not to long after its release. As I said in Week in Games, it feels like Balan was designed as a mobile title, which would explain why there only one action button. I also believed that SE made a bad decision releasing the game for multiple platforms, the type of colorful platform games seem like a better fit for Nintendo systems, perhaps Naka and his team should have developed the game with the Switch as its main platform and then port it to different systems, especially since I heard the Switch version was the only one which appeard in game sales charts, with very few copies sold that is. |
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Hal14
 Posts: 728 Location: Heart of africa |
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A short novel was released around the game's launch and is the only way to really understand the story, but I've heard it was decent. The concept art I've seen also looks good. I'm left wondering if this IP would have been better off as a kid's show than a video game. The cutscenes seem to be the only thing most people genuinely like about the game |
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k_dawg_3484
 Posts: 58 |
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Let me fix that, Yuji. Try this: "He apologized to anyone who purchased the game." Now, go do that. Nothing could have fixed this game. Bugs, no bugs, different songs for marketing, who f*** cares? This game is so bad on a fundamental level that the only way to fix it would be to never make it. Given that it's Yuji Naka's brainchild, I presume him being on the team for the last 6 months would have actually made the game worse. Just go watch Dunkey's review of it. And, then, if you want to see a man descend into madness, watch the VOD of Dunkey playing it on stream like I did. It is beyond belief that this is a AAA game that actually got released at all and then sold for $60 on top of that. It's debatable whether it could even be called a game. |
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Break Xerxes
 Posts: 223 |
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It sucks what happened. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I believe Balan Wonderworld had a lot of potential. It really sucks that Yuji Naka got screwed over like with Rodea the Sky Soldier.
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5525 |
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I've heard that Naka can be an issue at times, like threatening to leave SEGA if STI used his NiGHTS engine. That said, I don't feel right siding with the the AAA publisher over the developer.
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Funchal99
Posts: 41 |
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While rare, sometimes the developer is in the wrong. If you dig into Yuji Naka's history, there's quite a lot of evidence of him being very much a twat to both his employers and employees. As an executive at SEGA he once infamously successfully jeopardized an entire game that was due to release for the Dreamcast just because he played the demo and was so blown away that he wanted to seize the engine for his Sonic Team to use in a Sonic game. And that's just one example. Obviously we can never be sure what exactly happened behind the scenes, but for my money, he's now reaping what he sowed. Burned too many bridges and now no one really seems to want to work with him. Heck, by his own admission, multiple staff wanted him out, and for that to happen on a Japanese company, that means he was being a major nuisance. I think this lawsuit may be a way to try to cover up his actual responsability for the game. No ammount of bug squashing or original song playing on a trailer could possibly fix the fundamental concept the game was based on, which was his idea. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5958 Location: Virginia, United States |
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If it is, it is an awfully expensive route. Unless there is some hidden evidence that hasn't come out yet, he doesn't have a chance in hell of winning. But you could be right, some people operate solely on emotion, and will destroy themselves trying to get revenge. |
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Funchal99
Posts: 41 |
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Considering he collects expensive cars for a hobby, I'd say it's at least plausible he has the money to spare on revenge. |
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