Three years after that first tease, the full reveal of Crazy Taxi: World Tour finally hit the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 — and what began as a wave of nostalgia quickly splintered into criticism when Sega disclosed it had used generative AI during development. For a lot of fans the announcement felt... deflating, oddly timed after such a long wait.
Right after the showcase an AI Generated Content Disclosure popped up on the game's Steam page. Sega described generative AI as an auxiliary tool to speed up content production and free developers to focus on more creative work — language that reads like a PR template, i.e., polished and reassuring. They went out of their way to add that the tech wasn’t used for characters or actors.
That phrasing set off a flurry of questions. Sega didn’t list which assets were AI-made or AI-processed, which left room for speculation. Some players worry the neural nets touched visual material, not just background workflows; others accepted the claim but asked for clarity. The back-and-forth felt immediate and sharp, as if a lot of people wanted specifics, not slogans.
Context matters here. The industry has had several tense moments when studios revealed neural-network tools in their pipelines, and those disclosures have, understandably, met with pushback. Fans are anxious about whether unique artistic touches might blur into something generic — and yes, quality concerns come up too — but opinions are mixed rather than unanimous.
As for the game itself: Crazy Taxi: World Tour is the first proper new entry in ages. Expect a story campaign that sends the protagonist globe-trotting to retrieve a stolen car, plus the classic timed arcade mode that made the original a cult hit in the early 2000s. Whether the end product will feel like a faithful revival or something different — only playtime will tell, I guess.