Crazy Taxi: World Tour Beta Brings Back the Chaotic Joy of Early Online Multiplayer

Crazy Taxi: World Tour held a beta test recently, and hands-on time with it was enough to stir up serious nostalgia for the scrappy, chaotic online multiplayer of the early 2000s arcade era.

The beta puts players behind the wheel in the series' signature style — frantic fare-grabbing, big air, and the kind of anarchic energy the original Crazy Taxi nailed on Dreamcast back in 1999. The multiplayer component is the headline addition here, pitting drivers against each other in real time as they race to rack up fares and pull off increasingly ridiculous stunts. The preview notes the experience felt genuinely reminiscent of early online console gaming — rough edges and all — rather than a polished modern live-service product.

Crazy Taxi: World Tour is Sega's attempt to revive one of its most beloved arcade franchises, developed under the Crazy Taxi brand that's been dormant for years outside of mobile spin-offs. The original game's DNA — the timer, the over-the-top passengers, the Offspring soundtrack energy — appears intact, with the multiplayer layer added on top rather than replacing the solo arcade loop.

Reaction to the beta has been cautiously optimistic, with the nostalgic hook landing well even if some modern live-service trappings are visible underneath. No firm release date has been confirmed yet.