Simpsons Hit & Run might be coming back, Groening just teased it at D23
I was not expecting D23 to give me GTA-adjacent news but here we are. Matt Groening basically said the original Hit & Run is coming back in some form. A fan asked about it since Disney is doing a Simpsons Movie sequel, and Groening admitted he might be speaking out of turn but said "I think the original game is coming back in some form." Then Matt Selman jumped in with "Or not." Classic.
That game was my childhood. It was basically GTA for people whose parents wouldn't let them play GTA. The open world Springfield, the car collecting, the missions where you just drive around causing chaos but with Homer yelling. If they actually remaster it or do a sequel I'd lose my mind.
Groening also told a story about Road Rage, the earlier Simpsons driving game. Apparently higher-ups thought calling a game Road Rage would cause real road rage incidents. Then it sold well and nobody cared about the name anymore. Selman said the bigger issue was that Road Rage was obviously a Crazy Taxi ripoff, and the Crazy Taxi lawyers made them pay up. "Money changed hands" is how he put it.
But here's the thing. A Hit & Run revival is way more complicated than just Groening saying it. The original voice cast came back for that game, and re-licensing or re-recording all those voices would cost a fortune. Disney owns The Simpsons now, and there are a bunch of stakeholders who'd need to sign off. Radical Entertainment, the studio that made it, closed in 2012. One of the founders started a new company but it's not the same team.
Selman has been saying "never say never" about a revival for years. He helped write the game and admitted he had no idea it would become such a cult classic. Back in 2021 he told IGN he'd love a remaster but called the rights situation a "complicated corporate octopus." That's the most accurate description of anything I've ever heard.
I want this to happen. Hit & Run still holds up, and a proper remaster with modern controls and maybe some new content would print money. But I've been burned by teases before. Groening saying something at a fan event isn't a confirmation, especially when Selman immediately walked it back. Still, the fact that Groening said it at all means there's probably something going on behind the scenes. Or he's just old and doesn't care about NDAs anymore. Either way, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Source: GameSpot · Curated content.
Rights clearance is always the hardest prep phase. Re-recording that cast would burn through the budget before a single asset gets remastered.
Complicated corporate octopus
I'd sooner map out Radical's old level geometry by hand than trust a D23 tease.
I remember buying Hit & Run for my oldest when he was small. Training wheels GTA with yellow people.
Complicated corporate octopus
That about covers it. Disney didn't get rich by making things easy. I'll believe it when I hold the case. My backlog already laughs at my two hours a week.