By now, the majority of people who have come into contact with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition, or have at least been paying attention to what others have said, are aware of the backlash that's been occurring since it launched on November 11. It's at the point where non-official work is being put into the games to fix the mess, with one GTA fan even doing their own remake of San Andreas, and modders taking charge in offering up patches. It's not just the fan base in general that's upset about the release, as one of YouTube's most famous content creators releases weighs in on Grove Street Games' remaster.
In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg has given his thoughts on the Grand Theft Auto trilogy, in his trademark acerbic way. The short video begins with him saying that it's a "terrible" remaster, although he refers to it as a "remake" instead. He then goes through a number of screenshots and clips that have been sent to him, all of which point to some of the more disastrous elements of the trilogy, with the YouTube star laughing at what he's seeing. He even goes so far as to say that game companies are "all bad now."
On top of general mockery of the game, PewDiePie then goes on to compare it to Cyberpunk 2077's shaky release from last December, adding that it's not about the title being sold, but about "what hype" companies are selling. Some people may disagree that GTA Trilogy is comparable to Cyberpunk 2077's launch, but it's understandable that many in the community would see how the two stack up side-by-side, given the overall disappointment of both games.
Given that PewDiePie has over 110 million YouTube subscribers at this point, his words are going to echo throughout the fan base. He might be a little late to the critique party, but people are more than likely going to listen to what he has to say, and that is only going to hurt the trilogy even more.
Rockstar Games even apologized for the remaster, adding that it would reinstate the original PS2-era games which were removed before the trilogy was launched. The studio has since released a 1.02 update, which offers up a number of bug fixes, including the atrocious rain effects. The developer may be taking steps to fix the problems that have caused the GTA Trilogy to become one of the lowest rated games on Metacritic, but it still has to take into account the impact PewDiePie's words could have as well.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.