The Simpsons: Hit & Run may return: Matt Groening teases it at D23

Matt Groening hinted at a possible return for The Simpsons: Hit & Run during Disney’s D23, saying the 2003 Simpsons game “is coming back in some form”: “I think the original game is coming back in some form.”

Then Matt Selman, the showrunner for The Simpsons, immediately blurred the picture with a quick “…or not,” and nothing official has followed. No remake, no remaster, no sequel, no rerelease. Even so, Selman’s earlier “never say never,” along with reports that Activision had been bringing back a major licensed game players were “absolutely desperate for,” kept the 2024 rumors going.

If you’ve been hoping for another trip to Springfield, keep an eye on this. The Simpsons: Hit & Run, released in 2003 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC, still has a loyal following because of its references, its chaos, and that GTA-style open world. It’s also a pain to play on current hardware.

There’s a little more fuel for the speculation. New Radical Games says on its website that it remasters classics, and Hit & Run appears on the site. On top of that, producer John Melchior has said Radical Entertainment once began work on Hit & Run 2, along with a medieval Matt Groening pitch, before Vivendi turned down five more Simpsons games.

For now, though, the only way back to the original The Simpsons: Hit & Run is through those older platforms, not a modern digital release.

That’s probably because the license passed from Vivendi to Activision and then to Disney, which leaves fans with nostalgia, arguments about how well the gameplay has aged, and still no confirmation.