In the video game industry, there’s an “unspoken rule” that gets followed pretty much every time for the most basic of reasons. That reason is money. Simply put, if a video game, no matter what it was, sells incredibly well, it will more than likely get a sequel or a follow-up. Now, that doesn’t mean it has to be a “direct sequel,” as it can be something “within the same world” but follow different characters, but that’s still a “sequel.” Enter The Simpsons Hit & Run, the game that was just as nuts as the animated series that spawned it. It came out over 20 years ago, and people still talk about it today.
Why is that? The game was fun! It was nutty and wacky, featured the cast of the longest-running animated series ever, and so on. Plus, it was a hit back when it debuted, which made it nuts that the game didn’t get a proper sequel. That’s where the twist comes in. The video below is from a YouTube historian who discussed certain world records set within the game. The creator, Summoning Salt, clearly put a lot of effort into making the video, and it shows.
One person who noticed that effort was Joe McGinn, who just so happened to be the lead designer on The Simpsons Hit & Run. So, what did he have to say about things?
He left a comment on the video answering the age-old question of why the title never got a sequel. The company he worked for, Radical Entertainment, was actually raring to go to make a sequel. Just as important, the people behind the animated series wanted them to make it!
“Gracie Films offered our publisher a deal to make three sequels, with all Simpsons rights and voice actors, for the preferred price of zero dollars (we wouldn’t have to pay anything for the Simpsons license, in other words).”
That’s a great deal! Usually, the license is one of the worst things to pay for in the gaming industry, and they wouldn’t have had to pay anything! So, what the heck happened?
The answer is that the publisher, Vivendi Games, declined. However, the specific person who made that declaration is still a mystery…
“Some crazy person at the publisher – we never found out who – said no.”
That must have been so frustrating, and one can only wonder now what the sequels would’ve looked like, how much money they would’ve made, and how it could’ve affected the industry as a whole. We’ll never know, sadly, and all because one person without “vision” didn’t see the potential.
