“Big-Budget” Crazy Taxi Reboot To Reportedly Debut Sega’s First Super Game Initiative

The decades-old Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio franchises are reportedly being rebooted by publisher Sega as part of its Super Game Initiative.

The decades-old Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio franchises are reportedly being rebooted by publisher Sega as part of its Super Game Initiative.

According to a report by Bloomberg earlier today, a new Crazy Taxi game has already been in development for a year with a tentative release taking place in either 2024 or 2025 at the latest.

Sega similarly has a new Jet Set Radio game in the early stages of development but unlike Crazy Taxi could yet be canceled.

Both games are being made for all major platforms with multiplayer support and a free-to-play business model that includes microtransactions. Sega is reportedly using Fortnite as a template for a “big-budget” reboot of its existing intellectual properties, Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio being the first of the lot.

Sega announced its Super Game Initiative last year as a five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft to develop “new and innovative games” using the power of the Azure cloud platform.

The initiative focuses on reviving dormant Sega franchises for remakes, remasters, and reboots with increased global reach and online interactivity. Besides Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio, other intellectual properties on the list include Space Channel 5, Rez, Panzer Dragoon, Nights, Shinobi, Virtua Fighter, and Altered Beast.

A few weeks back, Sega executive vice president Shuji Utsumi confirmed that “several projects are currently underway for Super Game Initiative” with “around 50 people already involved in the initial stages” where “the final number of employees will be several hundred.”

The original Crazy Taxi was released for arcades in 1999 and has spawned several sequels and spin-offs since then. Jet Set Radio on the other hand received only two installments in 2000 and 2002 with a remaster in 2012.

Saqib is a managing editor at segmentnext.com who has halted regime changes, curbed demonic invasions, and averted at least one cosmic omnicide from the confines of his gaming chair. When not whipping his writers into ...