It's no secret that the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy launch has been a disaster, with GTA Trilogy earning scathing reviews and being heavily criticized online. Shortly after launch, it was confirmed that developer Grove Street Games would be working to address concerns players have with Grand Theft Auto Trilogy, and now publisher Rockstar Games has issued a statement, apologizing to fans and bringing back the original games.
In a new statement, Rockstar Games has said that it sincerely apologizes to anyone who has had issues with GTA Trilogy, admitting that the collection "did not launch in a state that meets [Rockstar's] standards of quality." Rockstar has updates planned that will address the various problems with GTA Trilogy, with the hope that the collection will eventually live up to Rockstar's standards. The first of these updates will be released "in the coming days" and will target all three games in the collection.
Rockstar also addressed the fact that some Grove Street Games developers have been harassed on social media in light of the GTA Trilogy launch problems. Rockstar is formally asking its community to "maintain a respectful and civil discourse" while it works to fix the various problems with GTA Trilogy and to stop with the harassment.
Not only is Rockstar fixing GTA Trilogy, but it's also going to be bringing back the original games through the Rockstar Games Launcher on PC. The original PC versions of Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are all coming back to PC, and anyone that owns GTA Trilogy will get them all for free. Anyone interested has until June 30, 2022 to claim the free games, though Rockstar has not provided a specific date that they will be available.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any plan to bring the original Grand Theft Auto games back to the PlayStation Store. This may be disappointing to console players, especially since the PS4 versions of the game were arguably the best, with improved resolution, performance, and trophy support. For now, those on consoles will have to stick with the remastered GTA Trilogy games instead.
Rockstar Games has a long track record of releasing some of the most critically-acclaimed and beloved games of all time, and so the reception to GTA Trilogy has been a hit to its reputation. If Rockstar Games is able to address fan concerns and improve GTA Trilogy enough, it may be able to turn things around, however.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.