Sega’s new Crazy Taxi game will be open-world and “massively multiplayer”

Sega says the upcoming big-budget return of Crazy Taxi will be an open-world, massively multiplayer game.

A new developer interview video released today includes quotes from the Sega team behind the upcoming reboot, as well as brief flashes of in-game footage. There are clips of multiple yellow cabs racing each other, with police cars chasing them.

Job ads on Sega Recruitment Page Note that the game is being developed using the Unreal Engine, and that Sega has high expectations for the game’s global success. The publisher previously described the scope of the project as “AAA”, indicating that it is putting a lot of resources behind it.

According to translations of the development team’s quotes (new video, above, in Japanese), Sega is currently testing how Crazy Taxi’s traditional gameplay will work in multiplayer mode, with unspecified new mechanics. (These are gameplay mechanics, not people with wrenches.) The game’s map is once again inspired by the sunny West Coast of the United States, with a play area designed to feel like an amusement park (thanks, Automaton).

Sega’s new Crazy Taxi project was one of five new titles in the classic franchises announced last December, alongside new entries in Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage scheduled to arrive over the next few years. (I’m sure Skies of Arcadia is next… right, Sega?)

The publisher said it aims to find the next breakout series from its massive back catalogue, having successfully turned mascot Sonic into a powerhouse brand.