Twenty-three years after Springfield first opened up for players to tear through in a beat-up car, the drumbeat for a The Simpsons Hit & Run comeback has never been louder. And now, a credible industry voice is suggesting the wait might actually be over.
The signal came during a podcast discussion about Spyro: A Realm Beyond, which had just been announced. During that conversation, journalist Jordan Middler of Video Games Chronicle shifted focus to Activision and teased knowledge of a project in the works. His exact words: "I think Activision's next step, and they're doing this with one very significant one, is to try and bring back some of that licensed stuff, like make new versions of those licensed games. The one that everyone's absolutely desperate for is happening."
He stopped short of naming the game directly. But the context makes the implied target pretty clear.
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Why Hit & Run fits the description
The key here is understanding just how rare it is for a licensed game to hold this kind of cultural weight decades after release. Most licensed titles from the PS2 era are forgotten. Hit & Run is not. The open-world Simpsons action game, originally developed by Radical Entertainment and released in 2003, has maintained a passionate fanbase that has spent years demanding a remaster or remake.
Activision published the original, and no other licensed title in their back catalogue comes close to matching the level of public demand Hit & Run commands. When Middler talks about "the one everyone's absolutely desperate for," there is really only one game that fits that description in Activision's history with licensed IP.
This remains a rumour based on an insider hint. No official announcement has been made by Activision or any associated developer.
The breadcrumbs have been building for months
This latest hint doesn't exist in a vacuum. The trail of clues stretches back several months. In February, the original development studio behind Hit & Run quietly re-emerged under the name New Radical Games, a move that sent the gaming community into immediate speculation. Studios don't typically reform and rebrand without a project attached.
Then in March, The Simpsons showrunner publicly acknowledged the demand for Hit & Run's return, adding another layer of credibility to the idea that conversations are happening at multiple levels.
Stack Middler's podcast comments on top of those two developments, and the picture starts to look less like wishful thinking and more like a project that's genuinely in motion.
For context on how Activision has been thinking about its portfolio recently, the publisher has been leaning into nostalgia-driven releases across several genres. The appetite for reviving beloved racing games and licensed titles has grown significantly across the industry, with remasters consistently performing well commercially.
What a return could actually look like
The framing Middler used, "make new versions of those licensed games," leaves the format open. That could mean a straight remaster with updated visuals and resolution, or something closer to a full remake with rebuilt systems. Given that New Radical Games has apparently reformed, a more substantial rebuild seems plausible rather than a simple upscale job.
Hit & Run's core loop, driving between Springfield locations, completing missions, collecting cards, and switching between playable characters from the show, holds up surprisingly well as a design concept. The bones are solid. What needs work is the technical side: frame rate, draw distance, and controls that were already a bit stiff by 2003 standards.
For players who want to get a feel for what a chaotic open-world driving revival can look like in the current market, Carmageddon: Rogue Shift offers an interesting point of comparison as another legacy driving franchise making its return.
No release window, platform targets, or official confirmation exist yet. But with the original studio back in operation, the showrunner aware of the demand, and an insider directly stating "it's happening," the probability of an announcement in the coming months feels higher than it has at any point since 2003. Keep watching the Activision release calendar closely.
