After a rocky release for Rockstar’s GTA Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, the company has issued an apology and has made the original versions available again.
In a note to the GTA Trilogy community, Rockstar began with, “Firstly, we want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games.” Continuing, “The updated versions of these classic games did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect.”
The GTA Trilogy debuted on November 11 after much anticipation from fans. Unfortunately, the games turned out to be a major disappointment to players, being filled with bugs and completely unplayable for PC users for days in the beginning. Those who could play it complained of poor optimization and led to Rockstar removing it from the Rockstar Game Launcher. Numerous players across different devices have demanded refunds for the game with the trilogy currently having a user score ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 across different platforms on Metacritic.
It’s no surprise that Rockstar has now been forced to address the issues. The company has said they “have ongoing plans to address the technical issues and to improve each game going forward. With each planned update, the games will reach the level of quality that they deserve to be.” With all the hate GTA has been receiving online over the last couple of weeks, the company also addressed this harassment saying, “it pains us to mention that we are hearing reports of members of the development teams being harassed on social media. We would kindly ask our community to please maintain a respectful and civil discourse around this release as we work through these issues.” Hopefully, their apology along with future updates to the GTA Trilogy heal the discontent currently troubling fans.
In a show of goodwill, Rockstar will also “be adding the classic PC versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas back to the Rockstar Store shortly as a bundle. Additionally, everyone who has purchased Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for PC from the Rockstar Store through June 30, 2022, will receive these classic versions in their Rockstar Games Launcher library at no additional cost.”
GTA has diehard fans and a massive player base. It was a shame to see such a beloved trilogy of games have such a disappointing release. Hopefully, the games can only get better from here.