Never had six simple words made me so happy.
Well, technically, two simple words:
“Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”
That iconic song opening from The Offspring could mean one thing and one thing only: Crazy Taxi was back. Sure enough, Crazy Taxi: World Tour was announced during the Xbox Games Showcase. We saw the iconic streets of San Francisco that I’ve played through so many times before. Only this time, we’d be embarking on a world tour.
According to the game’s Steam page, we’ll “navigate diverse terrain across five unique cities around the world.” Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Well, about that. If we were to scroll down further on that Steam page, there’s something else that awaits us, and it’s quite unfortunate: Crazy Taxi: World Tour was made with generative AI.
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.
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.
Talk about a buzzkill.
Crazy Taxi creator claims AI was only used as “a reference”
First and foremost, it’s important to understand what must be disclosed about AI content on Steam. In short, developers are required to note if their game uses generative artificial intelligence to generate content for the game, whether pre-rendered or live-generated. Essentially, this means that if AI is used to create assets, such as, say, background assets, they need to disclose that.
SEGA responded to Game Informer about the issue, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re using Generative AI with background assets: “Generative AI was used to support our teams during the development of background assets for Crazy Taxi: World Tour. Assets generated were still subject to review by the development team. No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game.”
This isn’t a case of AI assisting tedious coding; it’s full-blown gen AI replacing human work. Why it’s being used in Crazy Taxi, of all things, is beyond me. It’s impressive how well the original game has held up after nearly 30 years. It’s done that without any assistance, too! So why dip into such a controversial topic in the gaming industry? Series creator Kenji Kanno had an answer for Kotaku. He said that it was “used as a reference…Our artists would pull up and generate some of their ideas” before creating “the actual thing that would go into the game.”
It sounds a lot like they’re using AI to do concept art, which is something that, you know, an actual human could also do. Kanno reiterated a second time that the use of generative AI is “just for ideas and just as a reference” while acknowledging that it will be a bigger hot topic in the future. I’d argue that it’s already a gigantic hot topic. Fans who have been waiting years for a new Crazy Taxi game, myself included, went from elated to disappointed in the blink of an eye.
Sega clearly doesn’t care about making a new Crazy Taxi game, so why should I?
Also, again, it’s Crazy Taxi. The game’s debut trailer features the same level we fell in love with back in 1999. A real reference already exists; why do you need to use gen AI to reference something that is still played in arcades worldwide? Just play the original game as a reference. It’s what I’ve been doing for who knows how long; I could probably tell you what’s in most of the level from memory.
That is the crux of the issue here: if you can’t be bothered to take the time and effort to make a game, then why should anyone care? For something with as much personality and style as Crazy Taxi, it sure sounds like a pretty soulless development.
Worst of all, the success of Crazy Taxi was felt throughout the entertainment industry. The Offspring was already a household name by 1999; their album Americana, featuring “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy),” had hit stores a year before. Yet it was the single “All I Want” from their 1997 album Ixnay on the Hombre that became an arcade earworm thanks to Crazy Taxi. It was the song used in the trailer for a reason. We also saw inspiration in the gaming industry itself, with The Simpsons: Road Rage being very much inspired by Crazy Taxi. That should mean something, right?
It’s a shame, too, because Crazy Taxi: World Tour was my favorite announcement from this past week. Again, though, if they don’t care enough to use actual human-made concept art as references, why should I use actual human-earned money to buy the game? In all honesty, I should probably thank Sega; my wallet is going to hurt after a busy 2026 and 2027. Now I have one less purchase to worry about.
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