By In the world of video games based on existing film and TV properties, few are held in such high esteem as 2003’s “The Simpsons: Hit & Run”.
The cult classic open-world game unfolds in Springfield with players participating in a variety of quests to investigate the series of strange events that unfold, including the game’s signature “Grand Theft Auto”-esque racing missions.
Radical Entertainment developed the title, and Vivendi released it. Sadly we never got a sequel and, though well remembered, it is difficult to find these days.
Twenty years on, some of the team who worked together have reunited for an interview with reporter Ben Hanson and were asked why there never was a follow-up.
In a three-minute clip posted on the MinnMax YouTube channel, programmers Cary Brisebois and Greg Mayer, producer Steve Bocska, designer Darren Evenson, executive producer John Melchior and designer-writer Chris Mitchell, it seems they’re not sure either. Melchior says:
“Simpsons: Hit & Run would have been done by Radical. There was a medieval ‘Simpsons’ game that Matt Groening pitched it was being done at Stormfront after ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’.
The biggest crime was that Vivdeni did not obtain ‘The Simpsons’ license though they had an offer in. So ‘The Simpsons’ came back with an offer of five games for x amount of dollars. It was a really good deal and Vivendi said no… [even] after the success of ‘Hit and Run’.
…To everybody’s credit here, the sequel was like… we had airships, we had planes we had like we had lots to go… this was going to be a franchise, no doubt in anyone’s mind.
So EA was able to come in, get the license, and pay $89 to talk about their own games at every level. It was sad because there was no momentum lost between the shipping of this game, and the work being done on the sequel.
It was a five-game deal for less money than I think Vivendi paid for the first game. It was like really cheap because they were really happy…. It was just a really bizarre decision [to drop the Simpsons license]. I’ll never understand it. Most people on the production level never understood it.”
The sequel would’ve expanded driving capabilities – allowing players to tow objects from vehicles. However, it was still in very early development with no real story at the time and all sorts of ideas floating around that they never got to pursue.
EA signed a contract for the video game rights to “The Simpsons” franchise in 2005 and have not released a game based on the series since 2007.
Source: IGN
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