Why GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition's release came at the wrong time for Rockstar Games

Rockstar's latest product, the Definitive Edition GTA Trilogy, was released to widespread criticism on November 11, 2021. PC players couldn't even access the games on launch day, while console players uncovered countless game-breaking bugs.

Many fans believe that Rockstar rushed the game's development to release it as early as possible. The unfinished state of the GTA Definitive Edition Trilogy is quite evident from the various bugs and technical issues present in it. It might not have seen such a disastrous release if Rockstar had taken some more time with the game.

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Why Rockstar should've released the GTA Definitive Edition Trilogy at a different time

Rockstar hinted at some surprises earlier this year on the occasion of GTA 3's 20th anniversary. Later, some rumors regarding the remastered GTA trilogy began to surface. Most fans assumed that the surprise that Rockstar had hinted at was to be the remastered games.

GTA 3 was first released on October 22, 2001. Rockstar announced the GTA: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition on the same date and promised a November 11 launch date. Many fans felt that such a short time between announcement and release was not a good sign.

This reflected on the games themselves, as observant fans discovered how several areas of the games were rushed through. GTA San Andreas seemed to be the worst affected out of all three Definitive Edition games, as it was the most complex one. Fans assumed that the developers started their work on GTA 3, moved to Vice City as soon as possible, and then barely had time to work on San Andreas.

They would have more time to fix the obvious bugs if the release date was pushed back a little. This would have also prevented them from cutting back on the character models and textures. On the other hand, the announcement of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S port of GTA 5 might have played a part in the early release of the Trilogy.

Rockstar had already postponed the release of the Expanded and Enhanced Edition of GTA 5 to March 2022. Hence, they might have felt that fans would be annoyed if another of their promised game release was postponed again. Rockstar, however, had outsourced the remasters to their subsidiary Grove Street Games, a small developer with only 21 employees.

They should have known that rushing the project with such a small team would not produce satisfactory results. Hence, the ideal release date should have been somewhere in early 2022, even if it coincided with the next-gen console port of GTA 5.

The Definitive Edition GTA Trilogy has already received a title update, and future patches are bound to arrive soon. The quality of the game will hopefully be restored soon so that players can have a bug-free experience.

Note: This article reflects the writer's opinions.