Ever since Grand Theft Auto 3 was released to the public in 2001, Rockstar Games established itself as one of the giants in the gaming industry. Its signature series is one of the most popular brands in the world of video games. For much of the 2000s, Rockstar, especially because of Grand Theft Auto, represented what video games could do at their edgiest. Becoming controversial among fearmongering groups and public figures through violence and vulgarity was Rockstar’s bread and butter. Even after the novelty wore off, Rockstar’s games never usurped their identity for a cleaner image.
Rockstar’s popularity was seemingly never-ending, but recently, things have changed. The 2010s saw the studio focus nearly exclusively on Grand Theft Auto, specifically the fifth game and Grand Theft Auto Online, much to the dismay of its fans. Only Red Dead Redemption was spared from neglect thanks to its highly anticipated sequel finally releasing. In 2021, Rockstar’s first Grand Theft Auto-related project since the series’ fifth game, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, had a disastrous launch day. All the issues people had with Rockstar bottled up until this release, and the explosive reception will likely taint the studio’s reputation forever.
Grand Theft Auto 5 Hegemony
Rockstar was always known for Grand Theft Auto, even if it made a plethora of beloved games that fans want to see get remakes or sequels, such as Max Payne and Bully. The fact that Grand Theft Auto games were consistently the most acclaimed and best-selling Rockstar games never prevented the studio from experimenting with its iconic formula all while keeping its streak going and delivering successful works. Not only were games like Bully and Red Dead Redemption fresh takes on Rockstar’s now frequently emulated sandbox design philosophy, but other games like Manhunt and the aforementioned Max Payne showed the studio’s ability to steer away from sandbox games and tell grittier, more serious, and much more nightmarish tales.
Grand Theft Auto’s HD universe was the beginning of Rockstar’s shift in priorities. As of Grand Theft Auto 4’s release, online gaming became the norm, and fans understandably expected to be able to go on virtual crime sprees with friends and strangers alike. However, the ubiquity of online gaming was still in its infancy back then, and so was the modernized version of Grand Theft Auto that everyone would come to know by the 2010s.
When Grand Theft Auto 5 was finally released, all the hype proved worthwhile to Rockstar. The game famously became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history, and was initially depicted as the result of Rockstar listening to fans. The setting returned to the state of San Andreas, but specifically developed Los Santos, and the tone ended up taking itself less seriously than in Grand Theft Auto 4, bringing back formerly alienated fans. With this new installment also came Grand Theft Auto Online, which might as well be a game in itself. This new online experience was a dream come true due to how immersive and interactive it wound up being.
That being said, the overwhelming success of Grand Theft Auto 5 and its online component ended up becoming a monkey’s paw for Rockstar and the fans. Due to it being an online service, Grand Theft Auto Online had to get continuous support from Rockstar. In addition to the profits the service provided for the company, its status as a multiplayer experience essentially roped Rockstar into semi-exclusively supporting it at the expense of the rest of its properties, including Grand Theft Auto itself to an extent. Until Red Dead Redemption 2, the only new releases from Rockstar on consoles and PC were new generation ports of Grand Theft Auto 5, effectively making the game Rockstar’s equivalent to Skyrim and its own countless rereleases, much to the ire of fans that wanted to see Rockstar pay attention to its other works.
Disastrous Remasters
In an era full of speculation regarding Grand Theft Auto 6 and fans that are getting increasingly more impatient, Rockstar’s output being so homogenous in the past decade has not been warmly received. This aversion eventually turned into hostility. After a few leaks have hinted at their existence, remasters of Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas were finally confirmed to be in development by Rockstar in 2021. Confidently titled “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition”, the remasters were the closest thing to new Grand Theft Auto content since the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto 5 came out in 2013. The compilation should have been a celebration of what turned Rockstar into a superstar studio, but it ended up becoming what is perhaps the biggest scandal in the history of the company.
As the Metacritic review bombing indicates, most fans of the series seem to believe that Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is not worthy of its title, and it is not hard to see why. Rockstar could have rebuilt the games that made it famous from the ground up, similar to other compilations like Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Instead, the studio took the mobile ports of the 3D universe Grand Theft Auto games, attempted to revamp the games’ visuals, and called it a day.
Countless glitches and other technical issues have been found and posted on social media. The color palettes are more saturated and the character models have not been polished whatsoever, making the games look unnecessarily cartoonish. Environmental details were either removed, like the fog in San Andreas, or altered to look amateurish, like the rain. Because of Rockstar’s decision to streamline the “remastering” of the visuals using an AI, several visual jokes were also ruined. For example, the nut on the "Tuff Nut Donuts" stand, also in San Andreas, was redesigned to be as round as the donut it accompanies due to the development process failing to verify how reliable this AI actually was.
If the remasters were just sloppy, that would be bad but fixable in the era of modern gaming. However, Rockstar’s decision to pull the PC versions of the original games, which were already altered by several patches in the past, out of platforms like Steam worried fans. Now that Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is the only way to experience these games on PC legally, fans are even more upset, especially after the PC version was temporarily pulled out of the Rockstar Launcher.
If this is how Rockstar treats its most iconic series, then it is not hard to lose hope for any attempts at revisiting other, more neglected titles. It just shows that Rockstar has been taking its fans and success for granted. Rockstar has continuously been shooting itself in the foot for years, and angry Grand Theft Auto fans demanding refunds is the cumulation of the company’s bad practices. Even if Grand Theft Auto 6 eventually becomes a reality, and even if games like Bully are ever brought back in the modern age, it will take a lot for Rockstar to win back the trust of millions of consumers.