Despite being involved in a lawsuit over its development and negative reviews, Square Enix says that it recommends Balan Wonderworld “with confidence”.
The game was mentioned in a Q&A session during an earnings briefing for the company, during which an investor asked about former director Yuji Naka’s lawsuit against the company, apparently filed after his dismissal from the project.
Square Enix confirmed that Naka had had a lawsuit case with the company, but did not elaborate. However, according to Takashi Mochizuki of Bloomberg, Square Enix also commented on Balan Wonderworld itself, saying, “it’s a game we confidently recommend.”
Square Enix confirmed that it had a lawsuit case with Yuji Naka, but declined to comment further. As for Balan Wonderworld, “it’s a game we confidently recommend.” (from the Q&A session during the earnings briefing)
— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) May 13, 2022
Balan Wonderworld has not had its best moment under the spotlight. Naka left Square Enix after the game’s release last year and has since become an independent developer. Recently, Naka talked about his time at Square Enix developing the game. He said that he had an internal conflict with co-developer Arzest and felt that Balan Wonderworld was presented in an unfinished state. Also, Naka called the company and said, “I think Square Enix is no good.”
In Golden News’s review of Balan Wonderworld, we said, “It’s a mess of crude concepts and clunky mechanics that slow it down to the max, and it seems to take inspiration from better games without adequately bringing back what really makes them fun.” In that context, Square Enix’s recommendation feels a bit off.
In other Square Enix news, the company recently sold its western studios to the Embracer Group to fund future projects such as cloud services, AI, and most notably blockchain initiatives, the latest of which Square Enix chairman , Yosuke Matsuda, has expressed an interest in following.
George Yang is a freelance writer for Golden News. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey
