Yuji Naka, the lead programmer on the original Sonic the Hedgehog games and the former head of Sonic Team, has joined Square Enix.

The veteran developer with quite the pedigree announced the news both on his personal Facebook as well as Twitter. He also made sure to point out that he has been at Square Enix since January of this year, while the news has only just now become public.

“Just a quick note to let you know, I joined Square Enix in January,” Naka said. “I’m joining game development as before, and strive to develop games at Square Enix. I aim to develop an enjoyable game, please look forward to it.”

Following his departure from Sega and Sonic Team in 2006, Naka established the Japanese studio Prope, who went on to develop several games including Digimon Adventure, Rodea the Sky Soldier, and more. It’s worth pointing out that it remains unclear if this new position will affect the operations of Prope.