Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, & more dormant Sega IPs 'under examination' for reboots
Sega Sammy's recent year-end financial reports suggest it could be taking a good look at its sizable collection of idle franchises for reboot potential.
Sega has a ton of franchises under its belt that have remained fairly quiet since the company has focused at various points either on arcade and pachislot business or more popular franchises like the Yakuza series. That said, the recent year has forced Sega to take another good, hard look at its at-home gaming business and it could lead to the revival of some IPs according to Sega Sammy’s recent financial reports.
Sega Sammy released its 2020/2021 fiscal year end financial report via its investor relations website on May 13, 2021. According to the report, Sega suffered a tough year in 2020 due to “structural reform” of the company. This included significantly drawing back its investment in the pachislot and pachinko machines business and amusement machine sales. With this in mind, Sega seems to be turning more attention towards games. That includes the preparation of a supposed “super game” over the next five years, as well as taking a look at its collected dormant IPs and determining whether reboots, remasters, or remakes are possible. The list included such classics as Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Hourse of the Dead, and more.
The whole list of IPs under investigation for remasters, remakes, and reboots at Sega are as follows.
- Crazy Taxi
- Jet Set Radio
- Space Channel 5
- Rez
- Panzer Dragoon
- NiGHTS
- Shinobi
- Virtua Fighter
- Altered Beast
- House of the Dead
- Streets of Rage
- Soul Hackers
It’s interesting to see some of these listed. Streets of Rage, for instance, is enjoying a lot of popularity with DotEmu having successfully launched Streets of Rage 4 in 2020 and prepping major DLC for the game in the form of Mr. X Nightmare in 2021. Many of the other IPs on that list also have seen some love within the past year, such as Panzer Dragoon and Space Channel 5. Even so, some franchises like Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, and House of the Dead haven’t seen anything new in quite some time.
Some may recall when, in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Sega Sammy was unfortunately forced to sell off much of its amusement center and physical arcade operations due to restrictions on business operation in Japan and a downtrend in customer attendance and sales at the time. With that in mind, this revisit to previously dormant IPs may be Sega going back in on some of the franchises that kept the company relevant through the past several decades.
It remains to be seen what comes of this, but at the very least, Sega’s address of the IPs sitting within its reach seems promising. Stay tuned as we follow for further updates and details and keep your fingers crossed for fresh Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio in the coming future.
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Shacknews
replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, & more dormant Sega IPs 'under examination' for reboots
