Netflix and SEGA are developing a new slate of game adaptations led by a Crazy Taxi feature film, with a new Sonic animated series and a STRANGER THAN HEAVEN live-action film also in development. SEGA confirmed the collaboration in its official September 15 announcement, while Netflix’s newsroom summary sets out the three projects and their formats.
The companies have not announced release dates for any of the adaptations. The first project is the Crazy Taxi film, which will be written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the team behind the 2025 The Naked Gun reboot. Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, and Toru Nakahara are attached as producers. The announcement describes the film as the first project from the collaboration, but does not name a director or cast.
Three Sega worlds, three different formats
The Crazy Taxi adaptation will draw from the arcade series that debuted in 1999. SEGA’s current game page describes the upcoming Crazy Taxi: World Tour as a 2027 release for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2. That game follows Axel through a story-driven campaign involving a stolen taxi, five cities, extreme driving missions, vehicle customization, and online multiplayer, alongside an Arcade Mode built around the original race-against-the-clock formula.
Netflix and SEGA’s announcement does not say whether the film will adapt World Tour specifically or revisit the original arcade setup. It does, however, point to the series’ familiar ingredients: cab driving, chaotic city streets, stunts, traffic, and a race to deliver passengers. Keeping those details separate is useful because the film and the game are two different projects, even though they share the same franchise.
The second project is a new animated Sonic series aimed at an upper pre-school audience. Carlos Stevens and Toru Nakahara are attached to produce it, and Netflix describes the show as a comedic, emotionally grounded story about Sonic and his friends. The announcement does not provide a release window, episode count, voice cast, or additional plot details. Netflix also notes that all three seasons of Sonic Prime are currently available exclusively on its service.
STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, the upcoming RGG Studio game, is the third adaptation in the slate. The game is set in early 20th-century Japan and follows a foreigner whose life moves from poverty to the yakuza and then into entertainment. Netflix says the adaptation will be a live-action film, with Toru Nakahara as producer, but story, cast, director, and timing remain under wraps.
The approach continues a wider expansion of game properties into television and film. PixelTempo previously covered Blizzard’s Diablo animated series in development at Netflix, another example of a publisher using a screen project to extend a game universe. Our coverage of the Kingdom Hearts IV anime announcement also tracks how major game brands are being developed across formats, though neither project is part of this SEGA deal.
What players can confirm now
For now, the only dated game in the announcement’s immediate orbit is Crazy Taxi: World Tour, which remains scheduled for 2027. The adaptation slate has no confirmed premieres, production start dates, trailers, or platform details beyond Netflix’s involvement. That leaves the film’s creative team as the clearest piece of new information: Gregor and Mand are writing Crazy Taxi, while Moritz, Ascher, and Nakahara are producing it.
SEGA’s announcement frames the deal as a starting point rather than a finished lineup. Until Netflix or SEGA shares more, the confirmed news is a Crazy Taxi feature adaptation, a new preschool-focused Sonic animation, and a live-action STRANGER THAN HEAVEN film, with the details that would determine when and how to watch them still to come.
