Yuji Naka (中 裕司, Naka Yūji, born September 17, 1965) is a Japanese video game programmer, designer, and producer best known as the co-creator of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the bestselling video game franchises. Naka was also the head of Sonic Team from 1994 to 2006, and founded the independent studio Prope after his departure. Since January 2018, Naka has been employed at Square Enix.