When people think back to the games that have been released over the past year, the one thing that will stick in a lot of fan’s minds will be the total catastrophe that was the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition launch. Although the GTA Trilogy is being patched to fix a ton of bugs, it’s still left a dent in the reputations of both Rockstar Games and the developer Grove Street Games. Rockstar did promise that players would be able to return to the original PS2-era classics, but even that has left a sour taste in some gamer’s mouths.
In a recent post on Twitter, the powerhouse that is Rockstar Games has said that Grand Theft Auto fans will, once again, be able to replay GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas in their original iterations. However, the games will only be available through the Rockstar Games Launcher, and only for those who already own a copy of the remaster, or are planning on getting it before July 1, 2022. But it gets worse, as it’s currently only being made available for PC users.
As a result, people have been commenting under the tweet, and are not happy about the fact that console users are not able to download the classic Grand Theft Auto trilogy titles. One user seemed unimpressed that players who bought the Definitive Edition for the PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch, at full price, will not be treated to the older games. Others have asked whether consoles will also get the same treatment as PC users, but at the time of writing, it doesn’t seem that the classics will be coming to any system other than PC.
It would make sense for Rockstar to make them available once again for consoles, or even just for PC users who wish to download the games via Steam or another platform. The Grand Theft Auto games were removed from sale just before the remastered trilogy arrived, which caused some upset from the community, especially after the abysmal reception the Definitive Edition received upon release. This meant that players could only play the remaster with no option to return to the classics, at that point, unless they already had them.
GTA Trilogy will almost certainly go down as one of the most disappointing games of 2021. Rockstar promising the return of the classic PS2-era installments could have saved the company’s diminishing reputation. But the fact that it’s only available for specific players, and only through the company’s own launcher, and only for a certain amount of time, is only tarnishing its name further.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
