While the video game industry is still a fairly young industry compared to other media, it has several key veteran figures that have greatly shaped the industry still actively involved with game development. Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is still fairly active at Nintendo, and Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima still holds a legendary stature with his current projects. Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka surprised fans a few years ago with his departure from Sega to work at Square Enix on a new title. However, it seems this did not entirely go as planned, as he has announced his resignation from Square Enix.

メディアの方やユーザーさんにお問い合わせ頂くので、2021年4月末でスクエニを退職いたしました。理由は今はお話出来ませんが、時が来ればお話出来ればと思います。今後の活動については、もう55歳なので引退もありかも知れませんね。写真はセガハードヒストリアの取材で撮って頂いた写真になります。 pic.twitter.com/YgFT0eq2Jk

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) June 5, 2021

Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka confirmed his exit from Square Enix recently on his official Twitter account. The announcement comes after the somewhat disappointing release of Balan Wonderworld by Square Enix, on which Naka served as director. The game received fairly poor reviews from critics, and sold less than 2,100 copies in Japan during its opening week. It seems that this poor performance may have convinced Naka to leave Square Enix, as he states in his tweet:

“I retired from SQUARE ENIX at the end of April 2021 because I would like to contact the media and users. I can’t talk about the reason now, but I hope I can talk about it when the time comes. As for future activities, I’m 55 years old, so I may retire.”

It is fairly sad to know that Balan Wonderland did not perform well, as it reunited the Sonic the Hedgehog creator with the character’s original designer Naoto Ohshima. It would also be a tragic final project in the industry for Naka to work on should he retire, but after his long career, he’s more than paid his dues and left his mark on gaming. Maybe he can retire and be a part-time creative consultant on the new Sonic games coming out, to make sure Sonic never kisses a human princess again?

What do you guys think about Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka leaving Square Enix? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to stay tuned for the latest Sonic the Hedgehog news, such as the Sonic Colors remaster and new 2022 Sonic the Hedgehog game announced by Sega, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers! Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!