Sega surprised everyone when it announced a Crazy Taxi reboot is in the works during The Game Awards 2023 show alongside revivals of other classic Sega franchises including Streets of Rage, Shinobi, and Jet Set Radio.
Brief snippets of gameplay footage were shown in a trailer, previewing what the new Crazy Taxi will look like on modern systems. We haven’t heard anything official since then, but new details are slowly emerging.
Crazy Taxi will be a triple-A game
Last December, Sega’s new Sapporo studio was established by Takaya Segawa. Speaking with Japan Times, the studio president explained that Sapporo is working on several triple-a titles, including Crazy Taix.
“We’re responsible for titles such as Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis and Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! in cooperation with the bases in Tokyo and overseas,” Segawa said. “We are also participating in the development of Triple-A titles, including Crazy Taxi (a recently announced reboot of the arcade classic).”
“At present, we don’t have any titles developed independently by the studio, but we intend to do so in the future.”
Crazy Taxi is a simple arcade driving game where you race around cities delivering passengers to their destinations as fast as possible while earning points for performing stunts. But Segawa’s comments suggest the reboot will have a bigger scope than we imagined. Sega must be confident the new Crazy Taxi will be a hit.
New Crazy Taxi could have 100-player survival mode
Segawa didn’t provide any further details, but Sega leaker Midori has shared new details giving us an idea of Crazy Taxi’s potential scope.
According to the leaker, the Crazy Taxi reboot will be a live service game inspired by games like Fortnite and GTA Online, with “plans for live events, collaborations and customisations.” As part of this new vision, there will reportedly be a survival mode with up to 100 players.
The reboot will be the first new mainline game in the series since 2002’s Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller on the original Xbox. Alongside the reboot, Sega is also reportedly planning a remake of the original Crazy Taxi, which hit arcades in 1999 before being ported to Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, and PC. If these reports are true, Sega has bigger plans for Crazy Taxi’s comeback than we imagined.
Unfortunately, we could be waiting a long time for this taxi to turn up. Sega hasn’t announced a release window yet but reports claim the Crazy Taxi reboot won’t arrive until 2027. Platforms haven’t been announced yet, but it will reportedly be available on Nintendo’s Switch successor.
What are you hoping to see in the new Crazy Taxi? Let us know in the comments below.
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