Rockstar Games have a today published a newswire article in which they apologise for the launch of the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.

The trilogy has been met with resounding criticism, mostly in regards to the visual changes made and unstable performance across most platforms as well as various bugs and glitches.

Rockstar Games go on to say that the new collection "did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect" and to reassure people that updates to the titles are in the works.

In a surprise move they are also planning to reinstate the original PC versions of the 3 titles to the Rockstar Games Store. No word on whether they will also become available again on other digital storefronts or not.

Hi everyone,

We want to provide an update regarding the unexpected technical issues that came to light as part of the launch of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.

Firstly, we want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games.

The Grand Theft Auto series — and the games that make up this iconic trilogy — are as special to us as we know they are to fans around the world. 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.

We 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.

A new Title Update is on the way in the coming days for all versions of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition that will address a number of issues. We will update everyone as soon as it is live.

In the meantime, 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.

While one of the goals of the Definitive Editions was to allow players to enjoy these games on modern platforms for many years to come, we also understand that some of you would still like to have the previous classic versions available for purchase.

We will 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. We will update everyone as soon as these are back in the Rockstar Store.

Once again, we'd like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while we work through these updates to ensure these games meet everyone's justifiably high standards.

Sincerely,
Rockstar Games

Source

 

[MikaDubbz]

Sex, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence, blood, spilled guts, stealing, nudity, explicit language... and now bugs and glitches.

Note the heavy sarcasm when I say that THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST GAME SERIES EVERRRRR!!!!!

Even so, it must be frustrating to work so hard on a game series, put your heart and soul into making it the best you can ever make it, and then... this. Makes me think of another developer who works hard on games only for them to turn out buggy. It's a shame, really.

...Not that I actually like GTA, though.

Hard to count this against the developer of the GTA series to begin with (Rockstar), when they weren't even the ones that worked on this version. I mean they OK'd this for release, but it's not like it's existence worries me in any way for the quality of Rockstar's next release actually developed by them. Be it GTA 6 or otherwise.

 

[spotanjo3]

Seriously ? Apologies ? They knew. I have seen many developers always issue an apology as an excuse. My gosh. No excuse, period! Jeez.

 

[Dud]

Who's idea was it to release it if they knew it was hot garbage in the first place? Modders and homebrew developers do their flippin' homework. Rockstar just procrastinates and hopes their updates will get them a good grade. Good, god. This is sad.

 

[NumberXIIIEdwin]

I don’t claim to know the nitty-gritty of game development but if I was going to place the blame anywhere it would be on upper management. I’m sure a bunch of this was caught during QA and the developers knew but the publisher just HAD to have it out in time for the holidays. Looks especially fishy since they tried to delist the originals.

 

[Dud]

I don’t claim to know the nitty-gritty of game development but if I was going to place the blame anywhere it would be on upper management. I’m sure a bunch of this was caught during QA and the developers knew but the publisher just HAD to have it out in time for the holidays. Looks especially fishy since they tried to delist the originals.

I can see that. Publishers already have their money now and could care less about the issue unlike the ones apologizing. It's really pathetic that they can't understand that quality matters over quantity. Especially since homebrew developers remade the games essentially out of their love for the franchise and Rockstar slapped in their mobile ports as a base and called it a day to make upper management happy.

 

[DuoForce]

I want to know the bozo that gave this game a 7.5/10 here. Whoever you are, what were you smoking when you wrote that review

 

[HelpTheWretched]

Half arsed apology for a half arsed port.

Typical Rockstar.

I'm not sure what else they could have said to make the apology good enough in your view. Do they need to grovel?

 

[Marc_LFD]

rockstar launcher only

Dick move. Should be back on Steam.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Who's idea was it to release it if they knew it was hot garbage in the first place? Modders and homebrew developers do their flippin' homework. Rockstar just procrastinates and hopes their updates will get them a good grade. Good, god. This is sad.

This release has many flaws, but the absolute worst has to be the raining. It's nauseating.

 

[Kioku]

I'm not sure what else they could have said to make the apology good enough in your view. Do they need to grovel?

It was half assed and lazy. It means nothing as they knew the game wasn't ready. Just because someone apologizes doesn't mean it's worth anything. Especially not if it was intentional.

 

[subcon959]

It's so strange seeing big studios hitting the self-destruct button like this. Was this all just a long time coming or is something weird going on these days?

 

[DinohScene]

I'm not sure what else they could have said to make the apology good enough in your view. Do they need to grovel?

All this could've been avoided by not removing the originals/shutting down mods and the reverse engineered ports.
Just for a comparison, other Rockstar games that got a remaster never got this treatment.

 

[Marc_LFD]

All this could've been avoided by not removing the originals/shutting down mods and the reverse engineered ports.
Just for a comparison, other Rockstar games that got a remaster never got this treatment.

Red Dead Revolver could've gotten a remaster or something, that game is practically nonexistent to Rockstar these days.

 

[the_randomizer]

2020/2021 the year of half-assed games.

 

[Landysodds]

I'm only here for the comments

 

[Jayro]

I wish they'd just admit they fucked up.

They did give an honest effort, and just needs patched.

 

[Harsky]

2020/2021 the year of half-assed games.

God, I forgot Balan Wonderworld was released this year. That was a punching bag for several weeks.

 

[the_randomizer]

God, I forgot Balan Wonderworld was released this year. That was a punching bag for several weeks.

Glad I never bought that pile of crap.

 

[ertaboy356b]

I'm planning to get the physical but after all that fiasco, I might just *arggghh!!* it now.

 

[such]

So, it wasn't at the quality standard... But it still released.

Insert that lolwut pic somewhere, please...

Sounds like whatever the process was for managing the development and approving this game for release they used to write and approve the apology for said release.

Makes perfect sense, really.

I'm not sure what else they could have said to make the apology good enough in your view. Do they need to grovel?

They apologized only because they were caught and keelhauled for a week just about everywhere, and in the apology they're still vaguely pretending it's a "whoopsie, we didn't know it wasn't meeting our standards", instead of a (mis)calculated risk that backfired horribly on them.

A proper apology would basically be something along the lines of: "we've knowingly released and sold (at exorbitant prices) broken, piss-poor and/or half-assed games hoping you idiots wouldn't notice, and we'll ensure to never do that again while you still remember this particular screw-up, scouts honour".

And then maybe grovel a bit, wouldn't hurt.