In 2012, EA launched the mobile city-builder with an intentionally disastrous fictional origin: Homer accidentally causes a meltdown at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant while ignoring a safety manual (while playing a game on his phone, naturally). The explosion vaporizes the entire town, leaving only the Simpsons’ house standing. The player’s job is to rebuild Springfield from nothing.
A year later, in 2013, EA re-released Tapped Out globally — and it became a smash hit, generating over $100 million in its first two years. It ran continuously for over a decade, with regular events, Treehouse of Horror updates, and even a parody of Fortnite ’s black hole event when the game finally announced its shutdown in 2024. The Simpsons- Tapped Out
The irony? A game about rebuilding Springfield after a nuclear meltdown survived its own near-apocalyptic launch — proving that sometimes, like Homer Simpson, a lovable failure can stumble into lasting success. In 2012, EA launched the mobile city-builder with
Then, something unexpected happened. A tiny community of players who’d downloaded it before the takedown kept playing. They loved the sharp, original dialogue written by Simpsons TV writers (not generic mobile-game copy). They posted workarounds for the bugs on forums. Word spread. EA noticed the cult following and quietly reassigned a small team to rebuild the game from scratch. A year later, in 2013, EA re-released Tapped
Here’s an interesting, little-known story about The Simpsons: Tapped Out .