Rockstar Releases Same Buggy, Broken ‘GTA Trilogy’ Game To Steam… But On Sale!
from the well-that's-one-solution dept
Over a year ago, we discussed an annoying and strange set of actions taken by Rockstar and Take2, the companies behind the popular Grand Theft Auto series of games. Two actions were taken in sequence by those companies that were clearly related. First was that they worked to get a fan-made GTA 4 mod taken down, after learning that the mod essentially brought the cities and some of the gameplay from previous GTA games into GTA 4. Shortly after that was done, Rockstar released GTA Trilogy, which was a re-release bundle of those same older games the mod was incorporating. The problem is that GTA Trilogy was such a broken mess that the company had to pull the games out of online stores almost immediately. The launcher for the game was broken, the games were buggy as hell, and so on.
So why are we talking about this again? Well, GTA Trilogy is getting released again, on Steam first. But if you thought the bugs had been worked out and all is well with the title… LOL, no. Instead, a buggy version is being released again as is, but this time on sale!
Today, after some leaks and rumors, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition on Steam. The good news: It’s on sale, meaning you can grab all three classic games for cheap. The bad news: It’s the same infamously messy remaster that hasn’t received a substantial update since nearly a year ago. As you might expect, folks ain’t too happy about the situation.
Rockstar ultimately had to apologize to the community because the remasters were so awful. Eventually, Rockstar and Grove Street Games did fix some of the problems players had cataloged online. But the last major update for the game was in February 2022. Since then, the remastered trilogy has remained in a fairly rough state. So it doesn’t seem like the best time to release it on a new platform and yet, here we are.
$30 for three games really should sound like a good deal. But the public fully knows how buggy these games are and it’s completely tone-deaf to release those buggy games with the only give-back being a discount on price. And if you want to speculate that Rockstar has some patch in the works to un-break the games, keep in mind that the trilogy has been off the market for over a year now. There was plenty of time to fix the title before re-releasing it. I also imagine that buyers would prefer to have a completely working game rather than a discount on a broken one.
While some hold out hope that Rockstar will still swoop in, patch these games up and fix all the visual bugs and other problems, that seems more unlikely after today. Instead, it seems this is as good as things are going to get. Not to mention that Rockstar has plans to release these games on the Epic Store later this month, too. It does seem as if the time to fix GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas has run out and Rockstar is ready to move on. What a shame.
It’s not just a shame; I struggle to understand how this move makes any sense at all. Discount or no, the release of a buggy game is going to get Rockstar absolutely murdered in terms of customer responses to this whole situation. It’s making the mistake it made over a year ago all over again, but telling the public to be satisfied with a discount on the game.
As they say, when you’re in a hole, the first step is to stop digging.
Filed Under: bugs, gta, gta trilogy, steam, video games
Companies: rockstar games, take 2, valve
Comments on “Rockstar Releases Same Buggy, Broken ‘GTA Trilogy’ Game To Steam… But On Sale!”
This is like automakers deciding not to recall a vehicle with a safety defect and instead putting aside some money to pay out the lawsuits for deaths and injuries because it’s cheaper than recalling the cars and fixing them. Rockstar did the costs of fixing the game and their profits versus not fixing the game and their profits and concluded this route would create more profits. Stupid to us who believe in well regulated capitalism but to those who live by quarterly profits, squeezing as much possible out of everything regardless of the pain it creates and cutting every corner because their pay inrceases as their quarterly profits increase its a totally rational decision. I can’t wait for the mythical Great Clawback to manifest.
Hey we’re only charging you half price for the shit sandwich, why are you mad?
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Honestly? There is a price point where someone might buy a game they known to be bad/broken for curiosity’s sake. For example, I own copies of Aliens Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever – notoriously bad or broken games, but when I saw them on sale for €3 each I couldn’t resist!
10x that amount might be a bit much for pure curiosity’s sake, but if it drops lowered and the fan mod community starts fixing the bugs for them, it might be worth it one day.
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Considering how much community goodwill Rockstar set aflame by going after 3/VC/SA mods and modders prior to the release of The Definitive Trilogy, I wouldn’t expect many GTA modders to want to help patch bugs that probably wouldn’t have been there in the first place if Rockstar had simply given a shit.
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Yeah, nobody who had their mods that make the original games look exponentially better than these “remasters” targeted by R* is going to have any enthusiasm for the unpaid labour of fixing this shitshow.
As they say, when you’re in a hole, the first step is to stop digging.
Rockstar: “Keep digging! If we stop that means acknowledging we fucked up and I’ll be damned if I ever admit I’m wrong! We’re double and tripling down on this buggy game!”
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What! Wait – Musk bought Rockstar?
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On the one hand I want to say to stop giving him ideas on what to ruin next, but on the other hand, he really is only going to learn once he’s burned whatever assets and resources he has left on dubious decisions.
I’ll stick with my XBox copies on my OG XBox (Just don’t try to run them in backcompat mode on a newer xbox or it downloads these same shitty mobile ports), those already had higher res versions of the textures than the Playstation ones they badly AI upscaled for this, as well as having a bunch of additional postprocessing effects, whereas these mobile ports have fewer effects than the originals.
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Bonus, the XBox discs still have the original soundtracks in their entirety.
Truly the “Definitive” editions.
Well, to quote CJ from GTA:SA:
Discount Bug Store
Look how much money you can save!
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!!
Order now and get a dull Ginsu knife absolutely FREE!!!
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TREVOR!!!!
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NOW’S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A [[Hyperlink Blocked]]
Kind of reminds me of an exchange on the Simpsons.
Homer: Wow! This plankton’s only 33 cents.
Lisa: according to the Mexican Council of Food, this expired two years ago.
Homer: Sure, by their standards, but we live in America.
Lisa: This also says it can cause red tide poisoning.
Homer, turning red and gagging as he eats: Yeah, but it’s so… Cheap!
This is the Videogame version of 33 cent plankton.
Re: 33 Cent Plankton
Thanks, that’s my band name now.
Well .. I will not play this game because I just shot my XBox with my combat 12 gauge. Then I set it on fire and blew it to smithereens. Where is smithereens anyway? Bet the have a lot of woke products there now – lol.
Damn woke video games saving power – only commie socialists save power!
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I just read about that this morning. I blew a fuse.
Brings back fond memories..
“… As they say, when you’re in a hole, the first step is to stop digging …”
Remembering the originators of this advice…
Prenda, Carreon…
Techdirt should have a “Hall of Fame” for these… and maybe a “where are they now..”
Ah yes, the Definitive Edition: Defining Rockstar for years to come, and redefining some classic games as a dumpsterfire. Fantastic!
This reminds me of a recent story on this blog that I like to read.
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/01/24/how-the-friedman-doctrine-leads-to-the-enshittification-of-all-things/