Square Enix news today involves a report of insider trading involving employees, stocks, and new Dragon Quest developer Aiming Inc. before the announcement.
It’s not news to say Dragon Quest is a popular license. Apparently, some former employees of the company that built the Erdrick legend find themselves in hot water regarding insider trading. The allegations aimed at the former Square Enix employees state that they purchased a wealth of stock from Aiming Inc., the company charged with developing Dragon Quest Tact for mobile devices, before the formal announcement was made in January 2021.
According to the story-breaking Japanese website Automaton (Google Translated), with a Tweet from their official account follows:
“Sasaki and others are believed to have committed fraud in the stock trading of Aiming Co., Ltd., which works with Square Enix on new mobile games. Square Enix and Aiming’s recent efforts include “Gestalt Odin” and “Dragon Quest Tact“. Sasaki and others are suspected of buying about 47 million yen worth of Square Enix stock before it became public knowledge that Aiming would be involved in a new Square Enix game.”
A noteworthy development on the story happened today, with Square posting a piece showing their complete cooperation with authorities regarding the report of insider trading. In the statement, Square apologized for the misconduct and maintained they have “dealt with this incident strictly, including internal disciplinary actions taken against the suspected employees.”
Aiming Inc. has seen a meteoric rise in stock revenue over the past month as well, with prices skyrocketing a massive 57%, but whether it ties to Dragon Quest Tact or not is merely speculation, considering they’re always revealing new events for their live service.
UPDATE [NOV 18]: Sonic Developer, Yuji Naka Arrested After Being Connected To Aiming Insider Trading
Today on November 18, FNN reports the latest Square Enix saga involving employees and insider trading has gotten deeper. Yuji Naka, a leading programmer on the original Sonic the Hedgehog has been arrested in correlation with purchasing a reported 10,000 stocks in Aiming Inc. before the Dragon Quest Tact news was officially announced.
In a Google translation of the article, it says “According to the special investigation unit, the suspect was an employee of the major game company Square Enix around the end of January 2020,” which meets the timeline set forth for potential insider trading.
UPDATE [DEC 7]: Yuji Naka Has Been Arrested Again, This Time Regarding Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier mobile title.
According to another Google Translation, Asahi reports Yuji Naka and other Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki have been re-arrested today due to another insider trading allegation regarding the storied developer, this time regarding a different mobile title, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.
The allegations derive from both of the accused trading in the company, ATeam Entertainment, prior to public knowledge being given on which studio would helm the first soldier mobile title. Asahi details the trading: “Sasaki is suspected of purchasing a total of approximately 91,000 shares for approximately 105 million yen, while Naka is suspected of purchasing a total of approximately 120,000 shares for approximately 144.7 million yen. Sasaki also passed the information on to an acquaintance, who is said to have purchased a total of about 10,000 shares (approximately 11.8 million yen). Together, the two suspects earned hundreds of millions of yen.”
With the latest developer arrest, it remains to be seen whether even more employees have been involved in insider trading, but it’s worth noting this has only been an issue involving a few employees so far and not the companies involved at large.
