Read from Bloomberg:
Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. is developing big-budget reboots of its Dreamcast games Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio as it taps its back catalog in search of global hits like Epic Games Inc.’s Fortnite, according to people familiar with its plans.
The two titles would be the first entries in Sega’s Super Game initiative, which the company announced a year ago as an effort to develop recurring revenue sources and build online communities around its software portfolio. Fortnite has become the role model for such games: free to play, it’s available across platforms, hosts large multiplayer contests and includes extras like vehicles, construction and social events on top of the usual combat, spurring player purchases of in-game items.
The new Crazy Taxi has already been in development for over a year and the Tokyo-based entertainment group aims to release it within two to three years, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not yet public. It was named alongside Jet Set Radio in Sega’s annual report a year ago on a list of intellectual property assets that Sega wanted to recapitalize by bringing them up to date. Both new games are in the early stages of creation and could still be canceled, the people said.
A Sega spokesman said the company has no comment to make at the present time.
The Super Game project is led by Sega’s video game unit chief Shuji Utsumi, a former PlayStation executive, and currently includes plans for about four such titles.
Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. is developing big-budget reboots of its Dreamcast games Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio as it taps its back catalog in search of global hits like Epic Games Inc.’s Fortnite, according to people familiar with its plans.
The two titles would be the first entries in Sega’s Super Game initiative, which the company announced a year ago as an effort to develop recurring revenue sources and build online communities around its software portfolio. Fortnite has become the role model for such games: free to play, it’s available across platforms, hosts large multiplayer contests and includes extras like vehicles, construction and social events on top of the usual combat, spurring player purchases of in-game items.
The new Crazy Taxi has already been in development for over a year and the Tokyo-based entertainment group aims to release it within two to three years, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not yet public. It was named alongside Jet Set Radio in Sega’s annual report a year ago on a list of intellectual property assets that Sega wanted to recapitalize by bringing them up to date. Both new games are in the early stages of creation and could still be canceled, the people said.
A Sega spokesman said the company has no comment to make at the present time.
The Super Game project is led by Sega’s video game unit chief Shuji Utsumi, a former PlayStation executive, and currently includes plans for about four such titles.
