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Believe it or not, this year marks 20 years since The Simpsons: Hit & Run released on the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Since then, it has been revealed that there was actually a sequel in the works that was ultimately scrapped. That said, there were some more details about the matter shared earlier today.
John Melchior, who was the executive producer for the sequel, confirmed that “in the sequel we had airships, we had planes, we had lots to go on The Simpsons. This was gonna be a franchise, no doubt in anybody’s mind”. In fact, there were plans for a “5 game deal” between The Simpsons and publisher Vivendi. The latter was even given an offer for it. However, Vivendi declined it. So, things were scrapped.
As for why Vivendi turned down the offer, Melchior doesn’t know. In fact, he even states that he own boss didn’t understand either. Melchior said that “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”.
Melchior also revealed one more interesting tidbit about the sequel. By the time that the news of the declined offer reached them, assets for the sequel had been prepared, but the game itself was not playable yet. A system that would allow players to tow things behind their vehicles was a thing, but that was it. Even the game’s story wasn’t final yet. Chris Mitchell, who was a writer for the scrapped sequel, said that the story “was all over the map”. Mitchell even says that “in those early days, kind of everybody just imagines what they want, so I’m sure there were 12 competing story-lines at that point”.