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57-year-old game creator Yuji Naka arrested in Japan

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by Palas, Nov 18, 2022.

  1. Hivebrain

    Hivebrain

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    I don't see the point of stocks existing at all. They cause nothing but trouble.
     
  2. Londinium

    Londinium

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    You can buy part of the company and make money off of it.

    I suppose a small startup could also sell stock to raise funds.

    Money makes the world go 'round.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2023
  3. The Joebro64

    The Joebro64

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  4. Londinium

    Londinium

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    He wasn't fast enough to escape from the law
     
  5. Snowbound

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  6. saxman

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    That's a whopper of a mistake.
     
  7. That seems reasonable. Big ass fines though.
     
  8. The Joebro64

    The Joebro64

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    For Naka, the fines are a slap on the wrist, and I'd assume the suspended sentence means he can't trade in the stock market for four years. I wouldn't be surprised if he can make it all back by releasing more mobile games like SHOT2048 or selling autographs or something.

    Safe to say his professional career in the games industry is over though that was obvious the second he publicly lashed out at Square Enix and Ohshima so
     
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  9. I think you may be overestimating how much money the guy has. I’d suspect he’s in the $10-15MM net worth range as a very high estimate.

    Edit: Any net worth listing online about someone whose stakes in companies are unknown is more or less completely fabricated. That said, most seem to place him $2-10MM which is around what I’d guess.
     
  10. The Joebro64

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    The fine's equivalent to $1.2 million in US dollars. Given how many luxury cars the man owns, I'd be shocked if he couldn't afford that.
     
  11. I’ve only ever seen the Lotus he takes to the track which isn’t especially expensive. There was the Ferrari back in the day but I don’t think he still has it. What other cars does he have?
     
  12. saxman

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    If the money is tied up in something like real-estate investments for example, it may be hard to convert that into cash. Not all of someone's net worth is going to be liquid.

    He probably lives comfortably, but nonetheless, that is a BIG fine. I think that's going to hurt a little.

    Also, I doubt that mobile game he did made very much money. I don't think he can easily raise that cash. He'll likely just have to swallow it.
     
  13. The Joebro64

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    IIRC he has a Lotus, a Ferrari, and a Porsche. Unless he’s sold the Ferrari and Porsche, but there was definitely a point when he owned them simultaneously
     
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  14. Overlord

    Overlord

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    Can't believe how many people don't know what a suspended sentence is...

    No jail time (unless he fucks up again, but that shouldn't be hard) and a fine that a man who drives sports cars for a hobby can likely afford relatively trivially (though yes, it'll sting a little). Relative slap on the wrist.
     
  15. Gryson

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    Seriously.

    And people are misunderstanding the fines.

    He was fined 2 million yen ($14,000) as a penalty for breaking the law.

    The 170 million yen ($1.2 million) fine is 追徴金 (tsuichokin), which means money he has to pay back because he earned it through illegal means. In other words, it's the profit from his investment.

    He had the ability to invest 140 million yen originally. He's not hurting financially from this.
     
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  16. Ah, gotcha. That’s what I figured considering the similarity to his reported earnings but I only saw the comments here and the tweets linked. I just didn’t expect the English media to refer to it as a “fine” in that case, though I should have figured as much with how much they’ve blown coverage of this thus far lol.

    Suspended sentence and $14k seems pretty lucky IMO. I don’t know the typical sentencing for insider trading in Japan, but I’d be glad if I got off with that. Considering the damage this will cause his reputation and career, I hope his family doesn’t suffer because of this.
     
  17. Chimes

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    I think the reason people got confused on the money front is because without prior knowledge, actually knowing how much yen amounts to is pretty hard. It's easy to assume ¥8,600 is 8 grand because in USD/CAD $8,600 usually stands for dollars as the cents are truncated, but it actually reads more like 86 dollars (i.e. 86.00$), and that's not accounting for the exchange difference. Combine that with the "inaccurate story trends more than the correction" habit Twitter has and you've got yourself a murky pool of fuzzy understanding regarding this story.
     
  18. Stranger

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    I hope he considers revving Prope back up when the aspects of this that may have been inhibiting his engagement with games are sorted assuming he doesn't want to retire. I do wonder about the lawsuit with square and how that might have panned out as well.
     
  19. I imagine he’s just going to retire. He’s stated that he was already considering it before all this went down. Disappointing note to go out on for one of the greats. Even if the hardcore Sonic nerds like us tend to overlook his contributions in favor of those from Ōshima or Yasuhara, the guy still has had an impressive output and was clearly a driving force behind the series according to most people who were involved. Phantasy Star 1 and 2, Sonic 1-3, NiGHTS, Phantasy Star Online, Samba de Amigo, etc. Even Rodea has a bit of a cult following.

    I’d love to see him get one more game out there, but I don’t expect it.


    I don’t think this is the case. I’ve never met someone who’s automatically assume yen and the dollar have equal value. Confusion likely stems from English media referred to both payments as “fines” rather than forfeiture.
     
  20. Gryson

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    He will likely never be able to have a (conventional) career in Japan again. Japanese society is very harsh against celebrity criminals. No one will want to associate with him.