Some of Sega's biggest current gaming bets are already heading beyond consoles and PC, with Netflix along for the ride.
There are plenty of Sega games fans are already looking forward to, but apparently the company isn't stopping at just pushing these games out. Sega and Netflix have announced adaptations for three of the company's biggest names right now, with RGG Studio's upcoming Stranger Than Heaven and the recently-revived Crazy Taxi both getting films, while Sonic the Hedgehog is returning to Netflix with another animated series.
The announcement also comes at an interesting time for all three. Stranger Than Heaven is still gearing up for its January 2027 launch, Crazy Taxi recently returned from a long hiatus with a new game due next year, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is still rolling out new content.
Stranger Than Heaven is getting a live-action Netflix movie
Stranger Than Heaven will be adapted into a live-action film, with Sega head producer Toru Nakahara attached as producer. No writer, director, cast, or release date for the movie has been announced yet.
The adaptation arrives while RGG Studio is still revealing just how ambitious its new IP is. Stranger Than Heaven spans a 50-year story across five different eras and five Japanese cities, beginning in Kokura in 1915 before moving through Kure, Minami, Atami, and finally Shinjuku in 1965.
The game follows Makoto Daito, who leaves the United States for Japan in 1915 and eventually rises from a destitute stranger to a feared yakuza and entertainment tycoon. RGG Studio has also shown an evolving combat system and music-focused gameplay that changes alongside Makoto over the decades.
RGG Studio has also brought in a surprisingly stacked cast for for the game. Snoop Dogg appears as smuggler Orpheus, while Ado, Tori Kelly, and Satoshi Fujihara are among the artists involved. Then at Summer Game Fest, RGG confirmed that late rapper Tupac Shakur will also appear through his likeness.
As for how Netflix plans to translate all of that into a film, Nakahara gave a fairly direct description of what Sega is aiming for, promising "a badass action drama for STRANGER THAN HEAVEN". The game Stranger Than Heaven launches on 15 January 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, while the Netflix adaptation has no release window yet.
Crazy Taxi movie is being written by The Naked Gun reboot duo
Crazy Taxi is also heading to Netflix, with the long-running driving-action series getting a comedy film as the first project under the companies' new multi-title deal.
Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, the screenwriting duo behind the 2025 reboot of The Naked Gun, will write the movie. Sonic franchise producers Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher are producing through Original Film alongside Nakahara.
The original Crazy Taxi made its arcade debut in 1999 before becoming one of the games most closely associated with the Dreamcast. Its entire appeal was built around tearing through crowded streets, launching a taxi off whatever happened to be in the way, and somehow getting passengers to their destinations before the clock ran out.
Moritz and Ascher seem well aware of exactly what players remember about it. "This film is for anyone who's spent hours behind the wheel of a yellow cab on their Dreamcast," the producers said in a statement, before recalling the familiar experience of cranking up the music and smashing through everything in the way of the next fare.
Nakahara was even more concise about the movie's intended tone, describing the Crazy Taxi adaptation as "hilariously crazy". Sega announced Crazy Taxi: World Tour earlier this year, marking the series' return with a new 2027 entry. The game brings Axel back and will take the series across multiple cities, with online multiplayer also part of the new instalment.
Netflix is making another Sonic the Hedgehog animated series
Sonic the Hedgehog is also returning to Netflix following the three-season run of Sonic Prime, although this will be a separate animated series rather than another season of the previous show.
The new project is being developed with Carlos Stevens and Nakahara and will target an upper pre-school audience, with Sonic and his friends once again taking centre stage. Sega describes the show as a "high-voltage, comedic, yet emotionally grounded series" built around the characters' friendship, with some of Sonic's familiar edge and attitude still intact.
Nakahara also teased "something cute yet cool for Sonic".
"Great games already have what every adaptation is chasing — characters people love, worlds they know by heart, and fandoms that show up," Netflix VP of Nonfiction and Transmedia Brandon Riegg said in a press release reported by Variety. He added that Stranger Than Heaven, Crazy Taxi, and Sonic allow Netflix to work across three very different eras of Sega's catalogue while bringing them to new audiences.
Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi also said the company was proud to see Netflix taking on all three properties, adding that "the fandoms of these games deserve storytelling that honors what makes each title special". He said Sega believes Netflix shares that commitment, and called the new slate "just the start of what these titles can become".
