The Simpsons Hit and Run Developer comments Why the Game Never Got Sequel
The Simpsons Hit and Run Developer comments Why the Game Never Got Sequel
The Simpsons classic game, The Simpson Hit and Run was inspired by the legendary The Simpsons Show. The game was released back in 2003 by the publisher Radical Entertainment. As the next game series from The Simpsons: Road Rage, game elements from The Crazy Taxi game. The main inspiration for the game was GTA gameplay and it was proven a commercial success with three million copies. Despite a successful start, the sequel made its debut. Yesterday, the Simpsons Hit and Run developer comments on why the game never got a sequel along with the producer in an interview.
The Simpsons Hit and Run Interview Insights
On November 20th, the reporter Ben Hanson had an interview with the Simpsons Hit and Run development team. Producer Steve Bocska and Executive Producer John Melchior with designer Darren Evenson part of the interview. Along with programmers Cary Brisebois and Greg Mayer, and designer-writer Chris Mitchell were along the executives.
A three-minute interview clip was shared on the official YouTube channel of MinnMax. The team revealed why the sequel never gets to screen despite commercial success. Aside, the game storyline was written by the Simpsons writers and the voice cast was the same as the show. The development team revealed that they had the license to create five games under their titles. The team also confirmed that the sequel was halted in the beginning stage of the development.
Why did the Simpsons Hit and Run Never Get a Sequel?
The team inquired regarding the halt. John Melchior replied, “I don’t know. It was a five-game deal for less money than I think Vivendi paid for the first game,” he continued, explaining how his at-the-time boss was also perplexed. “He was just like, ‘I don’t understand. I gave it to you on a silver platter. Why aren’t you just saying yes and doing these games?’ It was just a really bizarre decision. I’ll never understand it. Most people on the production level never understood it.”
Another reason for the termination of the sequel was the obstacles regarding the in-game towing mechanism. As a GTA-inspired game, the players should have driving skills with objects and lift objects and items with them. Greg Mayer prepared a prototype and PPT assets to demonstrate the towing mechanics. But the player never got a chance to see it.
Mitchell confirmed, “It was all over the map. In those early days, kind of everybody just imagines what they want, so I’m sure there were 12 competing storylines at that point. Who knows what the final story would have been?” The developer continued, “This was going to be a franchise, no doubt in anybody’s mind,”
John Melchior further said, “It was a no-brainer; it was like, well of course we’re going to be doing this,” Evenson added. “The stars are aligned, we’re treading down this path. And then it was just like a, ‘Huh, I guess we’re not.'” He expressed his disappointment with the sequel. “It was sad because there was no momentum loss between the shipping of this game and the work being done on the sequel,“
The Simpsons Hit and Run developer comments on the sequel cancellation. Since EA purchased the Simpson games rights things got halted. But fans are still hopeful for the remaster version just like the Last of Us remastered PS5 date.
