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The Xbox Game Showcase's best announcement was undoubtedly the actual announcement of Crazy Taxi: World Tour after it was teased three years ago. So, of course Sega has immediately killed all of that goodwill by confirming it used generative AI for it.
During the showcase, a trailer kicked off with someone stacking cans before the dulcet tones of The Offspring's Dexter Holland shouting "YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH," and everyone whose knees currently hurt was immediately struck with excitement. While Sega did announce that Crazy Taxi was coming back during The Game Awards 2023 (alongside Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, and a ton of other franchises Sega hasn't touched in years), this is our first look at the game now dubbed Crazy Taxi: World Tour.
We got some gameplay of the new game interspersed with CGI footage, with it teasing new types of Crazy Taxi-ing as your passengers are fishing for sharks, holding a tower of pizza, or playing air guitar. The trailer takes place throughout what seems to be a recreation of the original arcade game's map, however, a character invited Axel to new countries, implying there's going to be many more as part of the World Tour.
The Steam page explains the plot: "Embark on a globetrotting adventure to recover Axel's stolen car from a mysterious group of international car thieves in a compelling story-driven campaign." However, for those elderly people among us (anyone over 30), Sega promises a classic Arcade-style mode too "featuring a pulse-pounding race against the clock to earn the most cash possible".
Exciting, right? Well, unfortunately Sega has immediately put a big damp cloth on the hype, as that same Steam page unfortunately includes the dreaded "AI Generated Content Disclosure." The disclosure reads, "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."
The description is a little vague, however from the line about enabling "developers to focus more on creative tasks" Sega is presumably using the tech for behind-the-scenes tasks rather than flooding the game with AI slop artwork. There being a disclosure, however, has many thinking it's more than simply using AI support tools for coding – but the vagueness now allows people to assume the worst. And now, sadly one of the most exciting announcements of the showcase has been spoiled for many.
Of course, generative AI has become more commonplace in games as of late, with publishers like Ubisoft and Krafton openly talking about using the tech. However, players seem to be outright rejecting it, as the outcry over Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian using it for Divinity caused the studio to u-turn on the using it in concept art.
Speaking of Sega and disappointment, Atlus announced Persona 6 and proceeded to show us absolutely nothing.
