There aren’t many 20-year-old games that have become as universally cherished as The Simpsons: Hit & Run. But despite the game’s popularity, a sequel never emerged, which one dev has now revealed was down to a rejection from an unknown employee at the game’s publisher.

Earlier in November, YouTube speedrunning documentarian Summoning Salt posted a video detailing the history of speedrun world records in The Simpsons: Hit & Run. A few days after the video’s release, a comment appeared from Joe McGinn, the lead designer on the game, sharing his praise for the video and later providing some insider knowledge on various aspects of the game’s development — including information on the game’s lack of sequels.

As it turns out, developer Radical Entertainment was not only keen to produce a sequel but had the opportunity to license the rights to The Simpsons for three sequels, all free of charge. “Gracie Films offered our publisher a deal to make three sequels, with all Simpsons rights and voice actors, for the preferred price of zero dollars (we wouldn’t have to pay anything for the Simpsons license in other words).”

With the offer of the rights to one of the biggest media franchises in the world for free on the table, one would think that a Hit & Run sequel would have been a complete no-brainer, but one unknown actor from the game’s publisher, Vivendi Games, bizarrely put a stop to it. “Some crazy person at the publisher – we never found out who – said no”, McGinn concludes.

Alas, we will now never get those three sequels that McGinn and his team had been all too willing to create. But, tragic as that is, perhaps that lack of sequels played a role in Hit & Run becoming the iconic title it is today. For McGinn, he’s just glad that people are still enjoying it. “We never imagined it would still be bringing some people happiness 20 years later!”

If you still need to get your automotive fix, check out our list of the best racing games.