Sega's Crazy Taxi World Tour faces instant backlash over generative AI disclosure

Crazy Taxi World Tour officially announced, and Sega immediately upsets everyone by announcing it used generative AI

It's been a rollercoaster day for Crazy Taxi. Today, at Xbox's showcase, we saw the first trailer for the long-teased rebooted game in the series. In a new trailer (below) Sega announced that the game is set to launch on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X in 2027. There's a lot to like: the series' San Francisco-inspired map still looks intact, and everything looks as clean and sunny as ever. You play as the original driver, Alex, who takes to the streets alongside some rival drives trying to get the biggest fare. The trailer also showed a few side activities; a fishing mini-game caught my attention the most. I also like the idea of ferrying around someone trying not to spill pizzas out of your open top vehicle. But then came the controversy: over on the Steam page for the game, Sega has added a note confirming that it has been using generative AI in the development of the title. "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," reads the statement. "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." Sega isn't alone in the industry, of course: there are many studios beginning to embrace genAI (but just as many starting to reject it). There is a lot of player resistance to the tool, though, with consumers rejecting games that use genAI en masse due to its lack of artistry, the environmental implications of its use, and the fact that many genAI models are trained immorally on stolen work from existing artists. We've known about Crazy Taxi's reboot for a while, of course: at The Game Awards in 2023, Sega announced plans to reboot five of its classic franchises: Golden Axe, Shinobi, Streets of Rage and Jet Set Radio. Whilst most of these series have had a revisit in recent years, a 'super-game' announced at the same time recently got shut down internally at Sega.

The new Crazy Taxi has a generative AI disclosure on its Steam page, and people are not happy

It didn't take long, but it happened to me. Less than a week after PC Gamer's Andy Chalk wrote about how these gaming trailer livestreams would start to have their hype trains robbed and wrecked by AI disclosures, I saw it. Crazy Taxi: World Tour, a game I was reasonably excited for, was made with help from 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," the game's Steam page reads. "No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game." I assume that last bit is referring specifically to voice work. Game Informer's Brian Shea got an expanded statement from Sega which he posted on Bluesky. It includes the extra line, "Assets generated were still subject to review by the development team." It's still a bit vague, but suggests that it was used to create art and not only as a coding assistant. Fans on social media are not happy. "Using AI slop to make shit for you, more like Lazy Taxi," wrote mat-draws on Bluesky. It's quickly becoming the thing to say. "Lazy Taxi," concurred Bluesky user tehsnakerer. "Lazy Taxi," mused mluckas, also on Bluesky. On Reddit, user RORSCHACH_INC_ commented, "Know what... think I'll just walk home." It's perhaps especially galling given the faux-counterculture aesthetics Crazy Taxi has always wrapped itself in, blaring pop punk as you try not to crash into the nearest KFC. The AI use, combined with the fact that this is apparently an open world campaign-driven game that takes you across five different cities, suggests that a Crazy Taxi game in 2027 is a very different prospect to the 1999 arcade classic.

Why Do You Need Generative AI To Make Crazy Taxi? - Kotaku

I was really stoked for a new Crazy Taxi game. Sega's been teasing it for a while now, so I knew it was coming, but the reveal today was still exciting. I love the silly energy of Crazy Taxi, the ridiculous yet fun overuse of The Offspring, and crashing into stuff for no reason. But I guess I'm not playing Crazy Taxi: World Tour now, because for some reason Sega used generative AI to make it. This is according to a disclosure on the Steam page for World Tour, which just went live today: 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. I...what do you need generative AI for, man? It's Crazy Taxi?! You literally made one of these in the late 90s with zero generative AI, and it was great? We have better technology now that's not generative AI that you can use! What are you even generating? Buildings? Soda cans? Signs? Guys? None of that requires generative AI! You can just...hire someone to make those things! A number of other major studios have admittedly to using generative AI recently, but this feels different. Most of the examples we've seen have been companies using generative AI in concepting and then frantically apologizing when some AI art made it into the final product, or try to sneak it in without people noticing (Call of Duty) or else they used it for localization, or (in the case of The Finals) to avoid paying actors to voice hundreds of lines. Not to say any of those uses should be downplayed, but this is one of the first times we've seen a big AAA game dev just wholesale admit it's using generative AI to make in-game assets without apology. Nevermind that it kills creativity and wrecks the environment. We gotta make taxis faster, I guess. Or whatever: the disclosure is so vague that one could assume anything from a single asset using AI, to most of the game. I guess at least we know The Offspring didn't use AI, based on the mention of the performers. Whelp, so long then, Crazy Taxi. Hate to watch you drive off into the sunset, I just prefer my games to be made by human beings, thanks.

Sega stuffed generative AI into Crazy Taxi: World Tour, slamming the brakes on all the excitement after a 3-year wait

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.