Square Enix recommends Balan Wonderworld “with confidence” despite Director disputes

Last month, one of the core creators of Sonic the Hedgehog and the ex-head of Sonic Team, Yuji Naka, took to Twitter in a surprise move, discussing the many problems with Naka’s most recent console release and placing much of the blame squarely on Square Enix. The publisher has now officially responded to Naka’s revelations.

Released just over a year ago in March of 2021, the 3D platformer ‘Balan Wonderworld’ launched to much criticism from both fans and critics alike. The game’s poor design was blamed on game Director Yuji Naka, though one year after release, Naka took to Twitter to offer his side of the story, saying:

“In my opinion, it is a real shame that we released the unfinished work ‘Balan Wonder World’ to the world. I wanted to release it to the world as an action game in a proper form considering various things. I think Square Enix and Arzest are companies that do not care about games and game fans.”

The development conditions of Balan Wonderworld also reportedly saw Naka removed from the project months before the game was released with a lawsuit following, meaning that his vision of Balan Wonderworld was not realised.

As reported by Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki, the publisher of Balan Wonderworld – Square Enix – released an official response to the matter during the most recent fiscal earnings meeting, with the publisher’s only comment being a concise: “[Balan Wonderworld] is a game that we recommend with confidence.”

While no-one expected Square Enix to demonise their own game, the fact that the publisher released such a non-answer is seemingly indicative of the way that they view the video games industry.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Square Enix’s answer? Have you played Balan Wonderworld? Who do you think is to blame for the state of Balan Wonderworld? Let us know down below. 

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