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Sega's "Super Games" Initiative Includes New F2P Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio (Bloomberg Report)

Ishaan

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Localization, Historian, Reporter
As reported by Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki, Sega's "super game" initiative will include big-budget reboots of Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio.

A few highlights from the report:
  • A new Crazy Taxi has been in development for over a year
  • The goal is to get the game out within 2-3 years
  • It and a new Jet Set Radio are in early stages of development and could still be shelved if they don't work out
  • The goal here is to tap Sega's back-catalogue to create global hits that can successfully rival Fortnite's free-to-play model

  • Alongside Crazy Taxi and JSR, Sega is also developing a "super game" FPS at one of its European studios
  • Last year, Sega stated that the goal for this game was to create a large community and bring in $780 million in lifetime revenue

  • The "super game" initiative is being led by Sega's Shuji Utsumi, a former PlayStation executive
  • The company's super games are being developed using Microsoft's Azure cloud platform

There are a few other details in the report, although you need to be subscribed to Bloomberg to view them, and I don't want to post it all here.
 
Reading that "Super Game" means GaaS and not AAA is a bit of a disappointment, but probably to be expected.
The European FPS studio is probably Creative Assembly's console team (Alien Isolation)
I'm a bit worried by the "aggressive monetization" compared to PSO2

I wouldn't take the $780 million figure literally, it's 100 billion yen as in "a Fortnite of money".
You don't have to be subscribed, you just need free articles (try using your phone/laptop/rarely used device, there will be a free article left somewhere)
 
Sega want their share of the f2p pie.
Taking fans favorite and turning them into cash cows is kind of cynical, but hey, Let's see the execution first. Seems quite a long time away, maybe 2024?
 
Sega, former SCEJapan executive, and Dreamcast IPs, that's really a combination I wouldn't bet any money on.
 
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On a more serious tone, I have doubts Sega can reboot Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio in a way to make them big F2P cashcow like Fortnite.
They have a certain brand name recognition, especially Crazy Taxi, but only with an older crowd who still remember when arcades where on their last leg in the west and in the end what really matter are the game mechanics, and in the case of F2P the social buzz it can generate and maintain.
 
I really, really doubt Crazy Taxi or Jet Set Radio GaaS titles can come anywhere close to making Fortnite money.
 
Crazy Taxi and JSR don't feel like a good title to use to target that Fortnite market lol. Unless the game is like, u can do whatever u want kind of game.

U want to live the life of Taxi Driver? The gameplay will be crazy taxi.
U want to live the life of skater/roller skates and love spraying grafiti? The gameplay will be JSR
U want to enjoy paint shooter hobby? There is FPS gameplay inside this game.

But this feel like a very ambitious games there.
 
So now they want to use classic IP to chase the GaaS business model? Ugh, Sega is fucking clueless.
 
I think a stylish grinder like Jet Set is a much more interesting concept for a GaaS title than another shooter, I’d love to see how it turns out.
 
Crazy Taxi was a large hit, but it was a very much late 1990s arcade title and they'd probably have to fundimentally change the gameplay to make it workable as a GaaS title. The licensed music would also increase the cost of it. The old fans of Crazy Taxi probably wouldn't like that Sega probably won't be using licensed music for the reboot.

Jet Set Radio is more niche but could at least be a interesting GaaS game. They'd need to have it on a Nintendo platform to potentially tap into that Splatoon audience.
 
I think a stylish grinder like Jet Set is a much more interesting concept for a GaaS title than another shooter, I’d love to see how it turns out.
It makes sense as an mmo-lite, but I'm not sure that many people will take to it. It's a much smaller niche, gameplay-wise
 
Where in the report does it say these games will be F2P?

It heavily implies that that's the plan–it compares Sega's goals for these games to Fortnite, mentions aggressive monetization plans, and also points to PSO2 being a similar product (albeit one that hasn't done quite as well as the company hoped).
 
It heavily implies that that's the plan–it compares Sega's goals for these games to Fortnite, mentions aggressive monetization plans, and also points to PSO2 being a similar product (albeit one that hasn't done quite as well as the company hoped).
Makes sense. Feel like the author might be pushing the horse before the carriage there. Reding Sega's fiscal reports they've always described their "Super Game" initiative in incredibly vague terms. Think the only facts are it's going to be big budgeted and they're "open" to using tech like the cloud/NFTs.
 
I know its bloomberg and they can be reliable, but crazy taxi and jet set radio as super games? Any other outlet and I wouldve called bullshit. What are they gonna do? Make crazy taxi a f2p mobile game?
 
the SuperGame is the FPS one
Super Game is just an initiative. Creative Assembly's fps is but one. one of Sega's Japan teams is working on an auto-focused one. Crazy Taxi and JSR are two more

I know its bloomberg and they can be reliable, but crazy taxi and jet set radio as super games? Any other outlet and I wouldve called bullshit. What are they gonna do? Make crazy taxi a f2p mobile game?

EDIT: actually there have been several, now discontinued

 
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