The Simpsons Arrives in Monopoly Go for a Wild Mobile Crossover Event

For arsenic monolithic and ever-present a franchise arsenic The Simpsons is, it doesn’t person the foothold successful the video crippled arena you mightiness expect. The wildly fashionable mobile crippled The Simpsons: Tapped Out was delisted successful 2025, and fans are inactive clamoring for a remaster of oregon sequel to The Simpsons Hit & Run. The caller occurrence of Fortnite’s Simpsons crossover shows conscionable however overmuch pent-up request determination is for The Simpsons gaming content.

Enter Scopely and its fashionable Monopoly Go! mobile game. Monopoly Go! Will beryllium hosting a Simpsons-themed crossover lawsuit that lasts from June 3 done July 29. The full crippled volition beryllium transformed and reimagined done the lens of Springfield, USA, arsenic players instrumentality power of characters similar Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa and bargain up iconic locales from the show. The crippled volition beryllium wholly packed with Simpsons references and Easter eggs, including a caller gameplay mechanic wherever players tin effort to bribe Chief Wiggum to get retired of jail.

There volition adjacent beryllium a communicative constituent to this The Simpsons event, with caller chapters unfolding each 2 weeks. That communicative kicks disconnected successful the signifier of an animated abbreviated that explores the long-standing rivalry betwixt Mr. Burns and Mr. Monopoly (voiced by nary different than Will Ferrell). You tin ticker that animated abbreviated here.

To larn much astir what to expect from this Monopoly Go!/The Simpsons crossover, IGN spoke with The Simpsons enforcement shaper and showrunner Matt Selman, GM of 20th Century Games and VP, Business Development John Drake, and Scopely’s VP Operations Joe Zanetti. Read connected to larn much astir this monolithic crossover and however it draws connected decades of The Simpsons lore.

From Fortnite to Monopoly Go!

As mentioned, this caller crossover is coming connected the heels of a monolithic collaboration betwixt Fortnite and The Simpsons successful precocious 2025. Epic Games acceptable a precocious barroom for Scopely to meet, but each 3 men consciousness this crossover lives up to that standard. It adjacent has 1 large vantage implicit the Fortnite crossover. Fortnite is simply a skill-based game, whereas Monopoly Go! is simply a overmuch much casual acquisition with a perchance wider audience.

“Fortnite is hard and requires skill, truthful we thought we’d springiness radical the other acquisition with this collaboration, a truly chillax game,” Selman tells IGN. “You tin conscionable leisurely play without worrying astir getting shot. No snipe anxiousness successful this, my friends. Just a laid back, maxin’ and relaxin’, benignant of amusive chill-out game.

Drake adds, “I think, to Matt's point, this crippled is acold little sweaty than being successful a life-or-death conflict successful conflict royale.”

It would beryllium casual to slap a Simpsons-flavored overgarment of overgarment connected Monopoly Go! and telephone it a day, but Selman is adamant that this isn’t what happened. Scopely enactment a batch of clip and effort into figuring retired however to genuinely instrumentality vantage of this popular civilization mash-up.

“Scopely nailed it,” Selman says. “They truly ran with the Simpsons shot truthful beautifully due to the fact that we were conscionable like, beryllium subversive, beryllium Simpson-y. Don't conscionable beryllium a butt-kissy, pointless marque collaboration. And they, successful each the Scopely creative, they took that enactment to bosom and said, ‘We are going to marque this. Like, what's the mentation of this Bart would emotion to play? What's the mentation of this that has that Bart cognition of being playful and subversive and not conscionable consecutive ahead?’ I mean, we each emotion the Three Little Pigs section of Monopoly Go, but subversiveness is not the connection that came to caput erstwhile you played it. I mean, they were decidedly cute pigs. They gave you small dices and worldly erstwhile you whacked those small pigs.”

“They truly ran with the Simpsons shot truthful beautifully due to the fact that we were conscionable like, beryllium subversive, beryllium Simpson-y. Don't conscionable beryllium a butt-kissy, pointless marque collaboration."“

Drake argues that these 2 properties are a much earthy acceptable than fans mightiness recognize astatine archetypal glance, due to the fact that they some woody truthful heavy successful good-natured mischief.

“I deliberation we're fortunate that Monopoly Go, and particularly successful however you interact with different people, already has elements of mischief and destruction, and it is itself the civilization astatine scale,” Drake says. “It's specified a elephantine rubric of truthful galore radical playing it that are like, however bash you find amusive ways to enactment connected things that are familiar? And past again, to Matt's point, subvert those things, messiness with your friends, person amusive moments that are not expected, and usage The Simpsons arsenic a storytelling conveyance to bash that, oregon even, acceptable dressing to bash that. I deliberation that they wildly over-delivered.”

Zanetti agrees, saying, “One happening I'll adhd conscionable rapidly present is just, Monopoly has ever been mischief. And I know, adjacent successful the room, Matt, you were ever talking about, ‘How tin we subvert antithetic mechanics?’ And we had a batch of antithetic ones that came retired of those talks, wherever we could, basically, look astatine our jailhouse Monopoly mechanic. How tin we messiness with that successful truly absorbing ways that volition astonishment players, however we could look astatine doing small takeover moments that would truly stress quality interaction. And we've got immoderate truly amusive flash events that bash those kinds of moments, and we're precise excited astir it.”

The existent amusive of this crossover lawsuit is that determination is really a storyline fueling the event, and Selman promises that it’ll support players engaged, adjacent to the constituent that they’ll privation to tune retired immoderate different distractions.

“There's a batch of struggle astatine the halfway of The Simpsons. Inter-family conflict, inter-friend conflict, Homer-Bart conflict, Homer versus Marge conflict, and from conflict, comes drama,” Selman says. “And I truly conscionable think, betwixt Scopely and the Simpsons writers that worked connected it, it conscionable truly succeeded successful explaining that mission. So possibly it's truthful bully you could adjacent crook disconnected the TV, oregon you're inactive watching portion playing. That's however bully this is. You are going to single-screen this thing.”

And if that’s not enough, the crossover volition connection players plentifulness of Simpsons-flavored collectibles to acquire.

“There's a batch of amusive postulation successful this, but I volition say, determination was truly a large backmost and distant betwixt the Simpsons penning squad and our unit arsenic we were going backmost and distant connected these,” Zanetti says. “So I would conscionable say, that was a legitimately, truly amusive collaboration that our squad truly enjoyed.”

Drake adds, “It's a bully operation of throwback iconic things from the show. The sticker sets successful peculiar and archetypal narratives of however they transverse over… ‘How bash we harvester these 2 worlds successful a amusive mode that's done a Simpsons lens?’ And I deliberation that's wherever the collaboration is more… It's similar this is the other of a marque partnership. It's a existent however does a crippled originative squad and a amusement originative squad marque thing that speaks to the fans of both? It's truly exciting.”

Ultimately, the crossover works due to the fact that employees connected some sides of the equation were invested successful making it hap and taking afloat vantage of it.

“The amusive happening present was, sometimes we person relationships wherever the teams bash not play, and with Simpsons, everybody's playing each the time,” Zanetti says. “So it's 1 of those things wherever they're giving america precise real-time feedback connected each our assorted crippled mechanics arsenic we're doing them. And truthful it's refreshing. I mean, it's benignant of awesome.”

One proposition from the 20th Television broadside didn’t marque the cut, unfortunately. Selman reveals that his squad pitched the thought of renaming the crippled “Monopoly D’oh!” But due to the fact that of SEO and branding concerns, that didn’t happen.

Mr. Burns vs. Mr. Monopoly

To exemplify conscionable however overmuch enactment went into this crossover, Gracie Films was tasked with creating an full mini-episode of The Simpsons that sets the signifier for the event. In it, fans tin spot Harry Shearer’s Mr. Burns going to warfare with Will Ferrell’s Mr. Monopoly, arsenic their decades-old rivalry comes to a head. Naturally, plentifulness of different Springfield residents popular up successful this video.

“Mr. Pennybags has been connected successful erstwhile [episodes] arsenic a crony of Mr. Burns,” Selman says. “So it's thing that's adjacent laid successful the amusement with these rivalries, with these different affluent cartoon characters like, Scrooge McDuck, Richie Rich, and radical similar that. So past you conscionable truly judge that there's a deep, agelong rivalry betwixt Mr. Monopoly and Mr. Burns. Again, it comes from character, which is truthful good.”

Zanetti adds, “It's specified a large billionaire versus billionaire happening for america to prosecute in.”

Selman says that 1 of the joys of moving connected the mini-episode was the accidental to spot Shearer and Ferrell play disconnected of each other, noting that this marks the archetypal clip the 2 drama legends person worked together.

Image Credit: Scopely

“You got Mr. Burns versus Mr. Monopoly archetypal animation,” Selman says. “So it's similar a five-minute caller clip, thing similar that, with Will Ferrell and Harry Shearer. This is legit, the existent deal. And they had truthful overmuch amusive doing it. They were some ace into it, and that was great. Both helium and Harry Shearer are comedic icons. And this is cool, this is their archetypal small-screen collaboration, right?”

But that mini-episode is conscionable the commencement of the storyline successful this crossover. The crippled volition regularly advancement and germinate arsenic this feud plays retired successful the streets of Springfield.

“There's this fantastic small setup for the arc with our Mr. Monopoly versus Mr. Burns,” Zanetti says. “But besides the different happening that's truly amusive is, we've got occurrence drops wrong our existent play wherever we're besides doing like, hey, we're going to present you to the satellite of Springfield. Hey, we're successful Krustyland, present we're going to look astatine a atomic powerfulness plant. And we're doing astir an episodic operation to the season... Because honestly, the mode our gameplay rolls and the mode our mini games happen, it astir is episodic successful nature. So it feeds to the, exactly, that cadence, but that's thing wherever we're telling small stories wrong it that are truly fun, too.”

Drake adds, “And I deliberation it was important for america to amusement each the large ways that these worlds tin play unneurotic and that benignant of chaotic, ruthless capitalism, similar phantasy capitalism is what Monopoly is known for, arsenic I deliberation [writer Loni Steele Sosthand] enactment it successful the short. It's not utilized arsenic the conceit oregon justification for wherefore they're combined in-game. And nor are, conscionable to beryllium truly clear, determination follow-up linear animation pieces for those episodic drops in-game, but we're capable to archer stories wrong the boards that week. The sticker collections, similar immoderate occurrence of the show, are not portion of immoderate maestro continuity. They are, successful fact, exploring corners and parts of the satellite of Springfield and its galore citizens successful ways that are amusive and ideally, person immoderate astonishment and delight moments for fans wherever they wouldn't deliberation Monopoly Go! would spell successful a definite absorption based connected past partnerships. And I deliberation we spell there.”

The Simpsons Easter Eggs successful Monopoly Go!

Again, it would person been casual for Scopely to simply propulsion the main formed of The Simpsons into Monopoly Go! and telephone it a day. But Zanetti says that they were intent connected mining the bid for each its worthy and truly digging into the decades of Simpsons lore.

“We ever person a batch of antithetic tokens, emojis, and things that you tin earn,” Zanetti says. “We bash much successful this collaboration than ever because, of course, Simpsons has this heavy backlog of awesome characters. And truthful our happening was, we didn't privation to conscionable do… Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart. We wanted to bash Easter ovum heavy cuts. And truthful we were truly capable to get a batch into it. So I deliberation fans volition truly beryllium like, oh, tin I cod each of these? Can I fig retired ways to truly get the full town?”

Drake teases, “If you're looking for immoderate emotion for Mr. Sparkle. We got you.”

Selman adds, “That's the quality of this, that Scopely’s programmers and creator originative producers are all, whether they cognize it oregon not, Simpsons fans, and they brought truthful overmuch of their fandom to this. It's conscionable ever amusive to spot what they're excited astir and what they were like, oh, this is what we privation to spot successful the crippled arsenic Simpsons' fans. So that's besides precise heartening and breathtaking for america to ticker you guys beryllium excited. We spot it each day.”

Zanetti says, “We person done much successful this collab than we person successful the past, for sure. I deliberation the biggest alteration is, we surely person done much unsocial features that are truly based on, however we tin bash amusive mechanics with Simpsons, and however we tin truly treble down connected the subversion thing? And that, hands down, it's much than we've ever done.”

Drake adds, “And I had the bully luck of being astir the Star Wars and the Marvel partnerships that were done earlier this successful our enactment crossed groups here, and Scopely has ever treated the IP with large attraction and made definite it truly feels authentic and, connected point, for the fans of that. But I deliberation immoderate of the much high-traffic areas and however acold they were consenting to propulsion it for The Simpsons, decidedly shows that this is bound pushing successful a batch of ways that I think, erstwhile executions, maybe, played it a small safer. And we are thing but harmless successful however we spouse with companies.”

Image Credit: Scopely

“Least safe,” Selman agrees. “But 1 of the large parts astir the crippled is each time there's a caller mechanic, oregon each 2 days. There's ever a caller brainsick happening happening for you to prosecute with, and they conscionable ever brought it erstwhile it came to uncovering a clever, earned, ace Simpson-y mode to bring that caller small mini crippled oregon competitory happening oregon team-up thing, oregon whatever. They're conscionable precise cool. I can't hold till you guys spot them.”

One unsocial situation posed by this crossover involves however to harvester the 2 properties visually. How bash you instrumentality the profoundly iconic 2D animation benignant of the amusement and merge it with Monopoly Go! and the game’s signature 3D chibi characters? That was 1 of the much hard aspects of this project.

“I volition say, it was a challenge,” Zanetti admits. “We had to look astatine a batch of antithetic shaders due to the fact that basically, what we wanted to bash was get the Simpsons benignant arsenic adjacent arsenic we could. So, looking astatine the board, however tin we marque the committee truly consciousness similar it? How tin we marque Springfield consciousness similar it has jumped into the mediate of the Monopoly board? And past the different one, which was a truly amusive collaboration, was figuring retired our 3D quality style, of however we tin bring each the Simpsons characters into what we'd telephone a benignant of chibi benignant of style. They're each cute and adorable successful the champion way.”

Drake adds, “Previous collaborations person adapted, benignant of like, the vibe and dressing of those characters, hairstyles, outfits connected apical of the Monopoly signifier factor, which is itself, not a one-to-one quality signifier and rig. And I deliberation with The Simpsons, well, we could person gone that direction, benignant of like, what is the cosplay mentation of Monopoly doing The Simpsons? But adjacent those aboriginal explorations, no, I mean, these characters basal retired arsenic truthful iconic. I deliberation the question is best, however tin we accommodate that truly well- known and beloved look and consciousness quality benignant to thing that is connected exemplary and connected signifier origin for Monopoly Go? And I deliberation that it's a immense testament to the Scopely artists that they recovered that truly quickly.”

The Monopoly Go! Simpsons crossover lawsuit runs from Wednesday, June 3 done Wednesday, July 29.

For much The Simpsons fun, cheque retired IGN’s picks for the apical 36 Simpsons episodes.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.