Rockstar admits GTA remasters “did not… meet our own standards of quality”

Rockstar has issued an apology for the “unexpected technical issues” that marred the release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition last week and led to the quick removal of the PC version from Rockstar’s online store.

Last week, Rockstar said that the PC version of the game was being taken down “as we remove files unintentionally included in these versions.” That led to reports that the package included copies of original soundtrack songs that had not been re-licensed for the new release. Other reports suggested that the original package accidentally included uncompiled source code and revealed some interesting programmer comments, including references to the infamous “hot coffee” scene that caused the game so much controversy back in 2005.

Today, though, the developer admitted in a blog post that “the updated versions of these classic games did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect.”

We noted some of the remaster’s many issues in our initial impressions, which recommended that you skip the bundle for now. Since then, players have chronicled countless bugs and questionable “remastering” decisions. Those range from disturbing textures to eye-searing rainfall to hilariously broken cutscenes to car-inflating wiggles to odd-looking character models and plain old typos that weren’t in the original game.

Rockstar now promises that “a new Title Update is on the way… that will address a number of issues,” so we can only hope that helps solve some of these problems. In the meantime, Rockstar is backtracking on the controversial decision to delist the original versions of the GTA Trilogy games from digital download services ahead of the remaster’s release. The developer now says it “understand[s] that some of you would still like to have the previous classic versions available for purchase” and will thus bring them back to the Rockstar store “shortly” as a bundle. Those classic versions will also be made available as a free download to anyone who purchases the Remastered version by June 30, 2022.