Launch of GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition has turned out to be a disaster. The remasters of the classic titles got one of the lowest user scores on Metacritic of all time and later went offline for three days. Players are now demanding refunds, complaining about bugs and other issues.
GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition came out on November 11. The Xbox One version recieved the lowest score of 0.4/10 on Metacritic, followed by 0.5/10 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. It also got a 0.7 score for PlayStation 4 and 0.9 for PlayStation 5.
Madden NFL 22 still remains a game with the lowest user score of all time with 0.3. GTA: The Trilogy, however, managed to beat the Warcraft III: Reforged record, which received 0.6 from players.
Here are some quotes from users’ reviews:
- “Well done Rockstar, this is how the remasters should be done. You are equal to the best, Blizzard in your case.”
- “Almost 20 years old games poorly remastered and for the price of $60. What is even worse is that you can’t even buy the originals since they removed them from all stores.”
- “I thought it is impossible to make remaster worse than Warcraft 3: Refunded, but Rockstar did it. This game is even worse. Low fps, all old bugs + tons of new, horrible compressed sounds, and cherry on a cake — new models and textures generated by ML looks really bad.”
- “This is the biggest video game failure (on par with Cyberpunk 2077, but still) of 21st century and you know why? Because this was made by a billion-dollar company, they could have put an insane amount of money into this project if they wanted. This is not some indie company. Awful job.”
A lot of players expressed their anger on social media, sharing screenshots and videos with bugs and glitches. They also weren’t impressed by the visuals, as some new models looked creepier compared to the original games.
Absolutely losing it at the GTA remaster graphics pic.twitter.com/XhQFYO85Nw
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) November 11, 2021
What the feck is this pic.twitter.com/7IzIMekIhv
— Nanna (18+)🌸 (@Nannzki) November 15, 2021
While Rockstar got rid of the fog in remasters, this decision ruined the whole atmosphere. The games now lack scale, with a map feeling much smaller. As John Linneman from Digital Foundry pointed out, “fog was not purely a technical limitation — it was factored into the art direction.”
I used to love just chilling out on top of Mount Chiliad in GTA SA. The fog, haze and clouds made it feel like the game world was massive
Here in the remaster there’s no fog, no clouds, you can see the edge of the map and CJ clips through the ground
I regret downloading this 👺 pic.twitter.com/WfZ9STfzSW
— Infernal Monkey 🔞 (@infernal_monkey) November 12, 2021
This is wild. It’s neat from one perspective but it clearly breaks the visual design. It sure makes for a map that feels a lot smaller. Fog was not purely a technical limitation – it was factored into the art direction. https://t.co/vmrursEhje
— John Linneman (@dark1x) November 13, 2021
The updated rain became another problem, as it was hard to see anything on the screen due to large white lines moving on top of it. The issue has already been solved thanks to a fan patch.
My Eyes Hurt Pt.1 #GrandTheftAutoSanAndreasTheDefinitiveEdition #GTA #XboxShare pic.twitter.com/7GSRX24G7O
— Janky (@JankyNedelko) November 11, 2021
Players also spotted frame-rate issues, as it sometimes drops to 30 FPS or lower.
In the wake of GTA: The Trilogy launch, people recalled one of the Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s interviews. In February, he referred to Cyberpunk 2077 as a “rival studio’s work that didn’t live up to the hype.”
“I think the case that you’re alluding to reflects the fact that you’re always better served to wait for perfection if you can create perfection,” he said. “And all of our labels are seeking perfection. And we don’t always succeed, sometimes we fall short. But that’s the goal.”
Considering many issues of GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition, some players found Zelnick’s words ironic. “Nobody rushed Rockstar with the GTA remasters,” one user noted. “Plus there are so many great mods to follow. But no, they just rolled out the ugly remaster without rush or control. A very lazy attempt to make money.”
context: pic.twitter.com/fHaULEpsxV
— 𝕽𝖊𝖛𝖔 (@_rvnx) November 15, 2021
As if that wasn’t enough, Rockstar Games Launcher went offline on November 12. People couldn’t launch the GTA remasters, as well as other games like GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The launcher came back online soon, but Rockstar suddenly pulled out PC versions of GTA: The Trilogy, citing unintentionally included files that should be removed. The games became available again only on November 15, but a lot of people started to ask for refunds.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is again available through the Rockstar Games Launcher for play and purchase. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and are working to improve and update overall performance as we move forward: https://t.co/hAfEKqYS3o
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) November 15, 2021
Too late. pic.twitter.com/ruRki4slB9
— Waffle? In this economy? (@Waffle_64) November 15, 2021
ok so can i have my refund now?
— ben (@bnwkr) November 13, 2021
Considering all these issues, GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition became the worst launch in the history of Rockstar. The studio’s titles had had bugs and other issues before, but this time players became really frustrated by Rockstar’s work.