The GTA Trilogy Remaster Is A Mess; Here’s Why It Botched The Launch [Update]

Update [November 15]: The GTA Trilogy is now available again via the Rockstar Launcher earlier today. Here’s the official statement from Rockstar’s status page:

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We are also working to improve and update overall performance as we move forward. We would like to thank everyone for their patience as we resolve these issues.”

Original story

The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy remaster, which covers GTA 3, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas, is out right now for everyone to play. And it’s a helluva mess right now, especially for something that’s dubbed the “Definitive Version” of the trilogy.

Players online are cataloguing issues and bugs in the game, which leads to the trilogy being unavailable to purchase after Rockstar removed the purchase links from its websites. These include numerous graphical glitches, blinding rain effects, invisible bridges, ridiculous camera angles, and questionable changes that make the decade-old original titles look like the Mona Lisa by comparison. And a ton of spelling errors here and there.

It was inevitable. pic.twitter.com/WGYJyLywsr

— SPITFIRE ??????? (@SPITFIREVA) November 11, 2021

My Eyes Hurt Pt.1 #GrandTheftAutoSanAndreasTheDefinitiveEdition #GTA #XboxShare pic.twitter.com/7GSRX24G7O

— Janky (@JankyNedelko) November 11, 2021

https://twitter.com/ryota5637/status/1459045844078891008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1459045844078891008%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcgamer.com%2Fgta-trilogy-definitive-edition-is-a-mess%2F

You'll find plenty of general spelling errors. I think they used an automated program to resize and clean up textures. The app seems to mistake "D" for "O" a lot.

Bad News: Mexican market is out of Enchiladas! ?
Good News: They've got hot fresh 'Enchilaoas'! ? pic.twitter.com/CeRQBf0sLJ

— Shane Luis (@RerezTV) November 11, 2021

So why is the game currently unavailable to buy right now? Rockstar officially said that it will “remove files unintentionally included in these versions”. We think it’s the unlicensed songs that are in the game that aren’t pulled out due to expired/unrenewed licenses. Basically the GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas remasters have all the songs with expired licenses.

So the audio format of choice for the Definitive Editions is OGG-VORBIS! More interesting however, San Andreas contains all the cut music! It's just disabled by script! pic.twitter.com/FBGJINdBYy

— Ash R. (@Ash_735) November 11, 2021

But I Can Play The Original Games, Right?

Nope. The original trilogy titles are removed from Steam last month. If you want to play these influential open-world titles, you need to wade through the mess until a patch sorts it all out.

Long story short, if you’re bragging that you’re releasing a definitive edition of a classic game, you better damn well deliver and keep all of it intact. Especially if you’re a company with tons of resources, connections, and clout like Rockstar.