[NioZero]

Hi.

Recently I came across this article and I don't know is was published before (I didn't find it in the Interviews section). Apparently was an interview at a Game Developer magazine. It mention some things about when he left SEGA so maybe is relevant to post it here.


Link: Yuji Naka On New Beginnings At His Studio, Prope (Gamasutra)

Quote

There is an unconfirmed anecdote that circulated around the Western press which states that when he left to build Prope, he offered any Sonic Team member the opportunity to go with him, and almost no one did. This was used to prove his lack of relevance in the current industry. I could see this anecdote being true -- but I would see it from another perspective.

Quote

Though the article is brief, I find Yuji Naka to be thoughtful and driven, not arrogant, and he left Sega because he still wanted to make games, not just manage them. It's my hope that this interview will increase understanding both of Naka, and the constraints of the Japanese industry.

Please close or merge if this was posted before.

This post has been edited by NioZero: 24 June 2015 - 05:02 PM

[Irixion]

So he got sick of their shit and left. I mean, from my perspective, Sonic wasn't in a great place when he was there, Heroes was OK, and who knows what kind of developmental disaster Sonic 06 went through, we can only imagine. He leaves and...we get Sonic Boom. I think we can agree that he wouldn't have okay'd...that 'game'. Man. Sonic...RIP?

[MastaSys]

Irixion, on 29 June 2015 - 07:09 PM, said:

(...) Sonic 06 (...) Sonic Boom. (...)

That's quite the gap you got there.

I think people give Yuji Naka way too much credit, if he was still at Sega things would be the same, if not worse.

[DigitalDuck]

Irixion, on 29 June 2015 - 07:09 PM, said:

So he got sick of their shit and left. I mean, from my perspective, Sonic wasn't in a great place when he was there, Heroes was OK, and who knows what kind of developmental disaster Sonic 06 went through, we can only imagine. He leaves and...we get

Sonic Unleashed, Colours, Generations.

Also, you realise he was the producer, right? If Sonic wasn't in a great place while he was there, you don't think he might have some responsibility?

[Caniad Bach]

Naka never really cared for Sonic all that much. He needed to be begged to come back for Sonic 2, and by the mid 90s Sonic Team had moved on to games like Ristar, NiGHTS and Burning Rangers. Naka was only drawn back to the series with Adventure because he was excited about the power of the Dreamcast hardware, but Adventure is more of Iizuka's baby, anyway.

I find it quite telling that Rodea is far more NiGHTS than Sonic, and don't really find it surprising that the quality of titles suffered in the "dark ages" before Naka finally got too fed up with merely being a sign off guy in a suit and left during development of '06.

[ICEknight]

MastaSys, on 30 June 2015 - 05:29 AM, said:

I think people give Yuji Naka way too much credit

Many people still call him the creator of Sonic...