Collecting rings the wrong way

Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been found guilty of insider trading following a trial in Japan on July 7, 2023. As IGN Japan reports, it was found tha?t through insider trading associated with the development of a Square Enix game, he had violated Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

?Naka was handed a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, suspended for four years. Judge Madoka Hiruta also served him with two million yen and 107 million yen fines, amounting to approximately $14, 000 and $1.1 million respectively.

[caption id="attachment_390834" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image by Square Enix.[/caption]

Yuji Naka's legal woes

Naka is known for being one of the co-creators of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, serving as the president of Sonic Team until 2006. He has worked on several titles outside of the blue hedgehog's franchise, including Balan Wonderworld, Phantasy Star, and Samba de Amigo.

Naka was arrested in November 2022, and it was alleged that he had purchased 10,000 shares (amounting to approximately $20, 000) in Aiming ahead of the studio announcing the Dragon Quest Tact mobile game for Square Enix. He was re-arrested on similar charges, this time for buying shares in Ateam, the studio that went on to release Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier mobile game.

He had previously pled guilty to the charges, admitting that there was no doubt the accusations are true. Judge Hiruta stated that Naka "was known as one of the world's most famous game developers, and had the? authority to access joint development information". and he also commented that Naka had damaged the trust of investors a??nd the soundness of the stock market.

Naka isn't the only Square Enix employee to find themselves in hot water. Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suz?uki were also arrested for insider trading after purchasing 162,000 sh??ares at a value of approximately $337, 250. It is repo?rted that it was Sazaki who informed Naka and Suzuki about the potential rise in value.

Though Naka may be facing turbulent times, things are looking good for both Sonic the Hedgehog and Final Fantasy. The newly released Final Fantasy 16 has already sold over 3 million copies, while Sonic the Hedgehog fans can look forward to Sonic Superstars, which is slated to launch in late 2023.

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Further investigation into Square Enix stock offenses

Yuji Naka, Sega veteran and co-creator of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, has reportedly been arrested for the second time as the result of an investigation into insider trading at publisher Square Enix. According to Japanese news outlet Asahi, (reported by VGC), ??the new arrest is in connection with addition?al instances of stock manipulation performed during Naka's time with the publisher.

In this case, Naka, alongside fellow former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sazaki, is suspected of investing in Japanese developer ATeam Entertainment, ahead of the announcement that said studio would be working on 2021 mobile release Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. Naka is accused of purchasing 120??,000 shares in ATeam at a cost of around ¥144.7 million yen (roughly $834,000 USD).

Back in mid-November, Naka was arrested under similar suspicions as the result of an investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors�Office Investigation Department. In this instance, Naka, Sazaki, and third employee Fumiaki Suzuki had been accused of purchasing stock in studio Aiming, ahead of the announcement that the developer would be working on Dragon ??Quest: Tact. In this instance, Naka is suspected of having purchased ¥47 million (roughly $336,300 USD) of shares before public announcement.

"We have been fully cooperating with requests from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission," said Square Enix in a statement published in Novem??ber.?? "As the investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is underway, we will continue to fully cooper??ate with their investigation."

"We deeply regret the great concern this has caused to all concern??ed. We have dealt with? this incident strictly, including internal disciplinary actions taken against the suspected employees."

Naka left Square Enix in 2021, following the critical and commercial failure of colorful platformer Balan Wonderworld. Naka would later file suit against his former publisher, arguing that he had been removed?? from the project six months ?ahead of its eventual release.

Yuji Naka re-arrested over alleged Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier insider trading sche??me [VGC]

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At Ease... Dismissed

Yet another live-service mobile title is being readied for the scrap heap �No big surprise, perhaps, but this particular example is branded with one of the most recognizable gaming IPs of all time. Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, will be ending service in January 2023.

Originally launched November 2021, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is a free-to-play title that tells of the formative years of the Shinra Corporation and its dedicated and ruthless merc army, SOLDIER. Following the typical battle royale format, The First Soldier tasked 75 custom characters with fighting it out in an ever-decreasing circle, procuring weapons and materia on-site in a bid to be the Last Soldier Standing. But it seems, despite the FFVII brandin?g, the experience was not compelling enough to maintain?? the title's popularity or profitability.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKgj5K0AYNw

"It is with a heavy heart that we are announcing the end of service for Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. We will be ending service at 07:00 UTC on January 11, 2023," said Square Enix in a public statement. "Despite all our efforts to bring you regular updates with fresh and exciting content, we haven’t been able to deliver the experience that we were hoping to, and that you all deserve, so we have made the extremely tough decision to end service for Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier."

"We would like to thank you all for supportin??g us over the past year??."

And thus, a little over a year on from its launch, The First Soldier will be joining a slew of free-to-play, long-life mobile games that have been abandoned scant years, or even months, into their life cycle. Players can still dive into The First Soldier? until its final day, although in-game currency "Shinra Credits", can n?o longer be purchased from the store.

Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier shuts down service on January 11, 2023.

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The First Soldier Season 2 is coming this year

It's easy to forget about any given game these days with floods of them coming in every week, but last month a Final Fantasy VII-themed battle royale mobile project came out, and it was...decent! Although it weaponizes nostalgia to a powerful degree, there's an actual game there, especially if you use a controller. Now The First Soldier Season 2 is coming, so the game must be doing well eno??ugh to warrant a continuation.

Shared on the game's official Japanese site, producer Shoichi Ichikawa shared some data on the game amid a tease we'll get into in a moment. Ichikawa is being fairly open with how the game has been received so far, noting that "roughly 45% of people in a recent po?ll rated the game at an eight or higher out ??of 10." 23.21% additionally rated it at a seven, with 10.83% going with a six, and 10.93% going with a five.

Clearly they have some work to do, and having played it, I think these numbers are a pretty accurate picture of the game so far. Ichikawa says they will "continue to make an effort" to raise the?se numbers, even going so far as to break down the various phases and mechanics of the game to see what people find the most fun, and hone in on that.

To that end, the game is getting a balance patch on January 18, and is making e??fforts to fix crashes on January 21: so there's two major updates coming soon, focused around gameplay and foundation. The first "Cup" tournament is starting on January 20, too: it's a busy month!

So about that tease: Season 2 is confirmed, and? it seems to be Dragoon-themed. The famed director Tetsuya Nomura himself shared the news in the post and even put up a Dragoon drawing to celebrate. While info is slim, this tease seems pretty clear!

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Slay Bells

Nobody loves the holidays quite like a corporation built on the capitalist suffering of the downtrodden, so why not celebrate this festive season with Shinra Corporation and its fascist private military faction, SOLDIER, as Square Enix has revealed the first seasonal event for its not-too-shabby mobile title Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.

Kicking off on December 8, (that's tomorrow, sports fans), the holiday event? will offer budding SOLDIERS the opportunity to bag themed gear, weaponry, avatars, vehicles, and more, while also offering festive new additions to the free-to-p?lay title's overall U.I. and aesthetic. Complete time-limited challenges and missions to earn even more exclusive goodies �rock up to battle in a garishly festive buggy, while wearing a Santa hat, before blowing everybody to kingdom come.

//youtu.be/DkP2GJq-Grs

Perhaps two of the best additions, however, are reserved for new mascot suits, which include a reindeer-style Chocobo and a festively decorated Cactuar, looking more surprised than ever before. A snowman Moogle costume, straight out of your nightmares, is also on the ??docket. The Seventh Heaven map will also be showing off its holiday cheer with a variety of decorations, colorful lights, snow ?effects, and more.

For full details of all of the coming events, as well as the plethora of goodies and unlocks available, visit the official Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier blog right here. I can't deny I always find it odd when I shooter dresses itself up for the Ho-Ho-Ho happiness of the holidays. But it's just a game... and apparently a pretty good one at that.

Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is free-to-play now on iOS and Android devices.

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Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier impressions

The game that nobody asked?? fo?r isn’t actually all that bad. Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier, the new mobile-only battle royale set in the world of Final Fantasy VII Remake, la??unched last month on iOS and Android. ??Within two days, the game was downloaded by more than one million people, including this person, who’d had just about enou?gh of the dullness of?? PUBG: New State and was ready to move on. 

If you haven’t been following along, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier will tell the story of the rise of Shinra and its SOLDIER program. Taking place 30 years?? before the events of Remake, you’re competing against players from around the world in training exercises that'll determine who will be named the first member of SOLDIER (at which point I assume you’ll be bathed in mako and se??nt to burn down an orphanage or something). The game plays out below the plates of Midgar, with many locations from Final Fantasy VII Remake waiting to be explored?? as you duke it out solo or in teams against other players and many classic monsters from ?the Final Fantasy series that populate the world.

If you’ve played any other battle royale? on the market, you should have a good idea of what’s on offer here. There are some changes to the standard battle royale blueprint, such as more control over where you initially drop, dedicated melee weapons, Chocobo, summons, and u??pgradable Materia. But none of that adds up to anything I’d describe as groundbreaking. Instead, I’d say it’s an intelligent infusion of Final Fantasy staples into the battle royale formula.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKgj5K0AYNw

Before each match, players will choose their character styles from one of the five currently available: Warrior, Monk, Ranger, Ninja, and Sorcerer. Each style comes equipped with unique traits, abilities, and skills, as well as a melee weapon that has its own predetermined combo chains. For instance, the Sorcerer style gives you a magic boost that recovers MP more quickly, can cast an arcane field ability that increases MP recovery and cool down speeds for a short time, and has a precise casting skill that has a chance of inflicting c??ritical damage when using Materia. Players can customize each style with new abilities and skills they can unlock as they level up each style’s mastery.

Speaking of unlocks, let’s talk about The First Soldier’s marketplace. The central currency of the game is Shinra Credits, which can be purchased with real money starting as low as $2 and going as high as $80. To give you an idea of how far your money will go, a Cloud skin bundle is currently available for 3600 Shinra Credits, which equates to about $27. Shinra Credits are used for most purchases in the marketplace, but you can also spend Gil you earn on stupidly expensive items and Moogle Medals on less-expensive-but-pricey-nonetheless skins. There are also gacha unlocks called Shinra Packs that give you everything from gun skins to gender-specific facial tattoos; and a paid season pass that’ll run you about $8.?? While you’re free to do with your money what you want, I would advise anybody try?ing this game out to avoid spending real money right out the gate.

It may be depressi??ng to see all those skins I’ll never earn on display in the marketplace, but I have no intention of deleting? The First Soldier off my phone. The ??big draw for me, or at least why I’m sticking with The First Soldier over New State, is its native controller support. Playing the game with touch controls works just fine and you have a lot of options on how you can set up your touchscreen inputs to your liking. But playing wi?th an Xbox One cont??roller is better. Not only does it allow me to enjoy the game without my big, fat thumbs obscuring parts of the screen, but I’m pretty deadly with a controller in my hand and it didn’t take long for me to start seeing those victory screens. Input delay is nearly non-existent and with the various control options, such as auto-shoot when an enemy is in your crosshairs, I think I have a distinct advantage against people playing with the standard touch controls. The use of a controller is not airtight, however. There have been many instances where I’ve had to press a button more than once to get it to work, but even with that nuisance, it’s still the preferred way to play.

I’ve moved back and forth wi??th the game betwe?en my Google Pixel 6 and base-model iPad from 2018. The First Soldier easily looks better on my small Pixel screen and the device can handle the higher-resolution gra?phics s?ettings with ease compared to my iPad. However, it’s still very much playable on the less powerful tablet. Yes, there is a lot of pop-in, but the bigger screen makes it easier to see my opponents even when they’re hundreds of meters away. Best of all, the framerate is pretty even between both devices.

//twitter.com/FFVII_FS_??EN/status/1459249645851394??048

With its native controller support, I do wonder why Square Enix is limiting this to mobile-only, at least for the moment. I know the console and PC market is pretty bloated when it? comes to free-to-play shooters, but that’s true of mobile as well. I hate to keep bringing this title up, but PUBG: New State already has at least 40 million downloads to its name, and it launched less ??than a week before The First Soldier. The Square Enix shooter may be able to catch up in the long run, but with the success of?? mobile & console titles like Genshin Impact and Pokémon Unite, it probably wouldn't have hurt to launch thi?s right out the gate o?n at least one console or PC.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Chocobo farm. As you play, you’ll have a chance to earn Chocobo eggs that can be hatched into rideable birds. There are Chocobo stations throughout the battlefield where you can call your bird into action. At the Chocobo farm, you can feed your ‘bo vegetables to raise its stats. Players are allowed to collect more than one bird and if you have male and female Chocobo, you can breed them together to add more birds to your pen. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any way to pet your Chocobo, so hop??efully, that gets added in an update. I know its addition would be completely unnecessary, but I think people would appreciate it.

That's really all I can say about this game without going into an in-depth review, which I frankly no longer wish to do for free-to-play, game?s-as-a-service mobile titles. If the loss of Fortnite on iOS has left you yearning for a new battle royale, I'd say give it a shot. You might find its combi??nation of Final Fantasy staples and tight gunplay refreshing. Just make sure you have a contro??ller at the ready if you want to game to be at its very best.

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Mobile Army

Who wants to play as the fucking baddies? Well, apparently everybody, as Square Enix has revealed that its mobile release Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier has already smashed over one million d??ownloads, just a few days from its initial release.

Dropping on iOS and Android on November 17, it took just two days for the free-to-play battle royale title to hit the one-million milestone, with no doubt a slew of new players also joining the rank-and-file of SOLDIER over the game's launch weekend. FF VII: The First Soldier tasks users with waging war in 75-player battles, utilizing weaponry, magic, material, and items in order to be the last floppy-haired, doe-eyed hero standing. Create a custom character and lay waste to familiar scenarios such as Corneo's Mansi??on and Seventh Heaven, you can even bag a Chocobo for easy map traversal.

Speaking of which, Square Enix announced that, to celebrate the title's successful launch, all players will be rewarded with three Shinra Pack Tickets and two lots of Chocobo Food. All you need do is log in to your account in the near future to bag your prize. Don't eat it all at once. As to whether FFVII: The First Soldier will maintain its l?aunch momentum, that remains to be seen. After all, many branded mobile releases have excellent first months. Keeping the train rolling into a half-year, full year, and beyond... That's the challenge.

Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is available to download now on iOS and Android.

//twitt?er.com/?FFVII_FS_EN/status/1461606290837311489?s=20

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So says the new trailer out of TGS 2021

It's been a few months since the closed beta test for Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. The free-to-play battle royale, which takes place 30 years before the start of Final Fantasy VII and tells the origins of the SOLDIER program, was announced for a 2021 release date back when it was originally revealed. According to a new trailer out of the Tokyo Game Sh?ow, it's still on track to meet that goal with a planned worldwide launch for later this year. Not only does the trailer reconfirm that, but it's als??o giving players a closer look at the character classes you can choose from in the game.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnbr7SG3bag

The one thing that immediate?ly grabbed my attention with this trailer is the debut of? the Ninja class. During this summer's closed beta, it was not available to test. Now that I'm seeing it in action, it looks to be more up my alley than either the Warrior or Monk classes ??I stuck with through most of the testing period.

Of course, whether I de?dicate myself to becoming a Ninja or not will depend on if I'm even going to download the game when it launches. I had a bit of fun with the beta, but as I noted in my write-up on it, you're going to want a pretty beefy phone if you want this game to run smoothly. I encountered a lot? of framera??te drops and pop-in during the test period on my Google Pixel 3A. I haven't upgraded my phone since then, so unless improvements have been made for mid-range devices, I'll probably just stick with something like Pokémon Unite until I eventually make the upgrade.

When it finally does launch, Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier will be available as a free-to-game with in-app purchases for iOS and Android??. If? the idea of a Final Fantasy battle royale does nothing for you?, just know t??hat Final Fantasy: Ever Crisis is still on the horizon for 2022.

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Last SOLDIER standing

If you've thought of yourself as SOLDIER material, the chance to virtually prove your mettle is coming. Registration is open right now for Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier's closed beta.

Square Enix has sign-ups open through May 27 at 8 a.m. PDT, after which a play period of June 1 through 7 will follow for those selected. You can pre-register on the Google Play Store, and you'll be notified if you make the cut—though Square Enix mentions that registering does not guarantee a closed beta invite. It's also only open for Android users; sorry, Apple fans.

If you need a refresher, Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier is a battle royale set in the universe of Final Fantasy VII, where SOLDIER candidates compete to be the last one standing across Midgar. While there are certainly guns, there's also plenty of more Final Fantasy options, like summoning Ifrit for help? or using materia ?to get the upper hand.

It's a curious-looking battle royale, but between the chocobo attire and the Midgar locales these candidates are fighting in, it at least seems faithful. Those looking for more traditional Final Fantasy VII Remake content can instead look towards the most recent Intergrade trailer. The PS5 upgrade of Final Fantasy VII Remake goes live on June 10, not long after First Soldier's closed beta closes.

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A free-to-play battle royale Final Fantasy, this'll be interesting

It was only a few months ago that Square Enix announced multiple Final Fantasy VII projects like it was the 2000s again, but the VII universe is here to stay.

Part of that multifaceted plan includes The First Soldier, a free-to-play-with-microtransactions mobile battle royale. It's something I'm sure no one asked for??, but I'm interested in seeing how it goes all the same. I mean, for free, I'll try it!

The game is gearing up for release at some point?? this year, and for now to hype it up, Square Enix created an official Discord server for the game. In the past year or so it's become more and more prevalent for publishers to control the message and use their influence to create their own curated communities; rather than let unofficial ones run wild.

You can fi??nd the direct link to join the server right here.

As of the time of publication it has over 1500 members, with channels to view game news in both English and Japanese. The ability to ?chat with other players is "coming soon."

Speaking of soon, there's a livestream arriving on May 7 at 20:00 JST. We embedded the direct link below!

Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier [Twitter]

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And it's on your platform of choice

Do you love battle royales but hate that there isn't enough Final Fantasy in them? Well, good news! Following the reveal of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Square Enix dropped the curtain on another FFVII project: The First Soldier.

Coming to iOS and Android, Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier is a mobile battle royale where players will face off against one another before the events of Final Fantasy VII. As you can see in the trailer above, it has everything you expect in a battle royale (you know, guns) but pairs it with traditional Final Fantasy trappings, like chocobos, spells, and summons. Everyone o?n the battlefield will be a Shinra SOLDIER candidate, and there will be solo play as we??ll as teams.

That's about all the info we have on it so far, but you can expect Square Enix to reveal more as we draw closer to its 2021 release. The First Soldier will be free-to-play with optional in-game purchases, but you probably already guessed?? that.

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