GoKawiilFirst look: Sega's return to Crazy Taxi isn't just a nostalgia play anymore. With the first full trailer now out, the upcoming Crazy Taxi: World Tour is drawing just as much attention for how it's being made, especially Sega's use of generative AI in development.
Revealed during an Xbox showcase, Crazy Taxi: World Tour is slated for release in 2027 on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The footage shows a fast-paced drive through a bright, San Francisco-style city, with the original driver, Axel, back behind the wheel. But the reboot also seems to widen the formula, adding side activities that push it beyond the series' simple arcade setup.
Alongside the usual rush of picking up and dropping off passengers against the clock, the trailer shows a fishing mini-game and odder challenges, like driving a rider while trying not to let pizzas slide out of an open-top car.
The bigger conversation, however, came not from the trailer but from a note on the game's Steam page. Sega confirmed that generative AI tools were used during development and described them as support tools for the team rather than central to the game itself.
"At SEGA Corporation, we utilize generative AI as a support tool for developers, aiming to provide better content to our users and enable developers to focus more on creative tasks," the company said. "We have used such generative AI support tools during development of Crazy Taxi: World Tour. No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game."
That puts Sega in line with a growing number of studios experimenting with AI-assisted production, but the use of generative AI remains a fault line within the industry. Some developers and publishers are moving ahead with it, while others have publicly rejected it.
Player response has often been sharply negative. Critics raise concerns about artistic integrity, the environmental cost of large-scale computing, and the fact that many models are trained on existing artists' work without consent.
Sega's statement emphasizes that AI was not used in connection with in-game performers, but it leaves open questions about how extensively the technology shaped the final product.
The reboot itself has been a long time coming. Sega first announced plans in 2023 to revive several legacy franchises, including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage. Most of those series have already seen revisits in recent years. Not all of those efforts have moved forward smoothly, with at least one large-scale "super-game" initiative reportedly canceled internally.
In that context, Crazy Taxi: World Tour hints at where Sega wants to go next. It pairs a well-known, nostalgia-driven property with newer development practices, including AI tools. How players will respond to that mix of old and new remains to be seen.