Yuji Naka Retires (probably)

But Miyamoto isn't really involved in making games either those days, he is more of a manager/advisory roles, the last game he really was involved in was Star Fox Zero, and that was...ummmm....yeah....

 

It's a shame to think that Balan might ultimately be the last game he's ever worked on... I looked up to Naka for years when I was younger and I completely admire his work on the classic Sonic games. I wish him the best of luck if he does end up retiring, but I also would love to see him get at least one more chance at making a good game...

 

If he is retiring then I hope he enjoys spending it with his family. Come to think of it, now I don't know how to feel about basically hijacking his old alias. Sure he only seemed to have used it for the first two mainline Sonic games, as far as I know, but I wouldn't know how to feel about someone else using an old username of mine. Well I have already established myself with this name both here and in Sonic Stadium especially so there's no point in changing it now. I wanted a username related to the Sonic series that I thought wouldn't be so obvious. Besides, Naka definitely does not know I exist anyways.

I don't want to make this post about me though so I figured I'll share this pretty neat image of Naka that I remembered when I came across this thread topic.
It appears to be around 1994 given the Genesis controllers and the Sonic 3 cap behind him:

I found it on his Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2699065823453866&set=t.100000514240758&type=3
Archived link: https://archive.vn/P22Qi

 

Naka will always be a "genius" to me. I'm still impressed by the original Sonic engine that he was able to make back in 1991. I think it could have been good if he had stepped into a more advisorial role at Sega (not unlike Myamoto at Nintendo), but he has to march to his own drum. If he ever makes another game, I'll be interested. But otherwise, I hope he enjoys spending time with his family. Being able to retire while your kids are still young sounds like an incredible opportunity.

 

Kind of a long time coming, but still sad. He was a wizard programmer for his time, but could never quite crack the transition to game producer/director the way his contemporaries did for some reason.

Anyway, here's hoping he retires like the Traveller Tales guy and starts spilling the beans on YouTube

 

Yeah this might be a blessing in disguise. I doubt it would be right away, but usually after a few months/years of retirement you start to want to relive your glory days, and that's exactly how you do it. It gets you the attention you want from the stuff you remember fondly. In my mind, everyone wins in that scenario.

 

As many others in the thread have stated, it's kind of a bummer that the last game he's made was panned pretty hard, because he is IMHO one of the best game programmers out there. and it's a crap way to leave the industry. But he does deserve to spend time with his family after creating an overall pretty strong legacy.

 

I feel like that translation is making people jump the gun here. He said "もう55歳なので引退もありかも知れませんね", which if I were to give a detailed translation that over explains the nuances in how he worded it, I'd translate it "Seeing as I'm 55 years old, it's possible that I may just choose to retire."

It just isn't worded in a way to me that is outright saying "this is probably what I'm doing", it's more like "this is a possibility." People are posting here and in the twitter thread as if he officially announced retirement when he's yet to do that.

 

Godspeed for Yuji Naka.

Sucks that his last game turned out to be such a dud, but I don’t think that it’s enough to change the fact that the modern video game industry would never be the same without his contributions.

 

I've never played Balan Wonderland or seen reviews of it, but whether it was good or bad, I think Naka deserves the opportunity to retire should he wish to. He is a programming genius.

 

He's had his ups and downs, but he's had a good run overall. The industry has changed immensely over the years, and to be honest I think he's had a hard time adapting. Balan being a commercial dud will never erase his earlier accomplishments, nor the joy his work brought to so many people.

If he retires, he'll have a lot more free time to spend with his family and to travel. Obviously, this situation isn't fun, but I think there's a bright side to it as well.

 

It's a shame that his last game was such a turd, but it can't magically undo all of his accomplishments over the years, nor does it make him a hack.

His successes weren't flukes and he's definitely done more good than bad in his career.

 

Sort of what I thought. I know it's not a very empathic approach, but the first thing that came to my mind after knowing he'd be retiring at the age of 55 was "How is that possible?". I mean, he probably has some money because Sonic, but it's been a while since then, I wouldn't think it's enough to retire now.

 

Well, I mean, like Shoemanbundy said, he isn't retiring he's more so saying "well, I'm already 55, maybe I should/might retire."

Either way, the man has had quite the career. He's accomplished a lot and left an impact. Not everything you do is going to be a hit. If he does decide to retire it's a shame he couldn't go out on a higher note, but that's just how life is.

 

Anyone who saves and invests properly should be able to retire after a 30+ year career.