Rockstar Games has issued an apology to fans about the state of the GTA Trilogy after its launch on November 11. The publisher acknowledged the technical issues players have encountered in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition and confirmed the games “did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality.”
The trilogy hadn’t met “the standards…fans have come to expect” either. Players have so far widely criticized the appearance of the models and textures. Others have encountered bugs, glitches, and a variety of performance issues. PC players were even unable to play for the first few days after launch, asRockstar disabled it in order to remove files like licensed music and the infamous “Hot Coffee” mini game that shouldn’t have been there.
A Title Update will be released over the coming days with the hope that this solves some of the ongoing issues. Rockstar’s plans also include further updates until the trilogy reaches the quality they had intended. The full statement from Rockstar can be read below:
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.
While PC players will be able to purchase the classic versions of the three games once again, there is no word on whether the same courtesy will be restored for console players. All previous versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had been removed from the PlayStation Store in October in preparation for this trilogy release. Still, the response is far better than that shown by head of developer Grove Street Games Thomas Williamson, who said he was “honestly enjoying this unparalleled level of scrutiny on our studio.” Whether he still enjoys the scrutiny in a few weeks’ time remains to be seen.
[Source: Rockstar Newswire]
