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[IbizaPocholo]

Simpsons Hit & Run 2 Would Have Added Planes, But The Publisher Passed

After the first game was mega successful, Fox wanted more but Vivendi wasn’t interested

kotaku.com

Developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi, The Simpsons Hit & Run was a semi-open-world GTA-like video game starring the popular Simpsons family and a host of other characters from the long-running animated show. It was released to positive reviews in September 2003 on PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. It also sold incredibly well, was beloved by fans, and had a development team that was excited to create more. And Fox, as well as the folks behind The Simpsons, wanted more and offered a deal to Vivendi that would have led to potentially five more sequels. But the publisher passed, according to folks who worked on the game.

In a new video interview from MinnMax, six of the original developers and producers who worked on Hit & Run sat down to provide an oral history of how the popular game came to be. During this discussion, executive producer John Melchior (who worked with Fox) explained that the sequel was a “no-brainer” for everyone involved.

According to Melchior and the others, while the original Hit & Run only featured cars and trucks, the planned sequel would have featured blimps, airships, and planes.“We had lots to go on The Simpsons [Hit & Run]. This was going to be a franchise, no doubt in anybody’s mind,” Melchior said.

Hit & Run programmers Cary Brisebois and Greg Mayer further revealed that work was being done on a towing mechanic that would have let players drag around wagons and trailers behind cars.

Sadly for fans of Hit & Run, Vivendi passed on the deal. Melchior claimed the five-game deal would have cost the publisher the same or less than it paid for the Simpsons license for just Hit & Run. He explained that the deal was so good because everyone at Fox and The Simpsons TV show was impressed by Hit & Run and wanted more. But because Vivendi passed on it, EA swooped in and bought the license to produce its own Simpsons games.

 

[Happosai]

Haven't watched the series since the late 90's but I've played the games. I liked Hit & Run (the OG) and was interested in this when they announced it. Sounds like it would have been a decent game too. Any chance someone else will pick this up or is that it?

 

[bender]

I'd kill you all for a remaster on modern systems.

 

[Ribi]

Haven't watched the series since the late 90's but I've played the games. I liked Hit & Run (the OG) and was interested in this when they announced it. Sounds like it would have been a decent game too. Any chance someone else will pick this up or is that it?

Likely not. They mentioned that Disney owns the IP and Microsoft owns the assets and that the voice actors reconstructed their contracts.

 

[Happosai]

Likely not. They mentioned that Disney owns the IP and Microsoft owns the assets and that the voice actors reconstructed their contracts.

Sounds like a hot mess. Well, I'll go with Bender on a modern remaster. I reiterate remaster...not a remake. Don't need anymore of that with older games.