Crazy Taxi

SEGA is sitting on a mountain of beloved gaming franchises and IPs, and it feels like the Japanese publisher is doing almost nothing with them. Aside from Sonic, Yakuza, and Persona — and Total War for the PC crew — it's relatively rare to see the company utilise its treasure trove of beloved games. Some fairly recent exceptions, and this new report from Bloomberg, suggest things are changing, however.

According to the report, which cites "people familiar with [SEGA's] plans", the publisher has greenlit reboots of Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio. This pair of Dreamcast classics is surely on every SEGA fan's wishlist for a comeback, so to hear that both are allegedly making a return is music to our ears. While this initially sounds very exciting, there are some details that might make some a little apprehensive.

The report goes on to talk about SEGA's Super Game initiative, which will see the company publish several large scale games over the next few years. Apparently, the Crazy Taxi reboot has been in development for about a year, with the aim of releasing somewhere around 2025. The catch may be that these upcoming games will take the form of live service akin to something like Fortnite, potentially including microtransactions, crossover content, and NFTs.

None of this is confirmed, but SEGA has made mention of utilising new technologies in these Super Game projects in the past. Obviously, we'll need to hold tight and see what happens before we can make any real judgments. For now, it sounds like fans may finally have their prayers answered with new Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio games, but even just that is up in the air. Bloomberg's sources say the titles are still in the early stages and could be cancelled, so who knows what'll happen.

At any rate, are you excited at the prospect of new entries in these iconic series? Would you be put off by a new Crazy Taxi or Jet Set Radio that takes the form of a game as a service? Bounce down those San Francisco hills in the comments section below.

[source bloomberg.com, via videogameschronicle.com]