Does the GTA Trilogy’s disastrous launch spell bad news for GTA 6?

As tragic as the GTA Trilogy's launch was, it shouldn't affect GTA 6 too much in the grand scheme of things.

It's easy to be in all doom and gloom mode after seeing how disastrous the former's debut was. However, there are several reasons why it shouldn't negatively affect GTA 6's eventual release, as one might think. First, the refunds and people refusing to buy the GTA Trilogy won't bankrupt Rockstar Games.

Second, it wasn't Rockstar North that developed the GTA Trilogy. Grove Street Games developed that controversial title. In recent years, all of the successful mainline GTA games were made by Rockstar North, who arguably hasn't made a bad game in decades.

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GTA 6 should be fine, even with the GTA Trilogy's embarrassing launch

Financially, Rockstar Games should be fine thanks to GTA Online's success (Image via Rockstar Games)

It's no secret that the GTA Trilogy has become a laughing stock in various online communities. Even before its launch, many were mocking the game's graphics and minimal improvements. Naturally, players being unable to play the game for nearly a day on PC did little to placate their opinions on the title.

Many are already frustrated with the lack of GTA 6 news, although that was an issue even before the GTA Trilogy was announced. Much of the problems associated with the GTA Trilogy are partly thanks to Grove Street Games, which aren't the leading developers for GTA 6.

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Grove Street Games & the GTA Trilogy

The GTA Trilogy is more of a side title than a mainline game (Image via Rockstar Games)

As GTA 6 hasn't been announced yet, nobody officially knows who the main developers are. As Rockstar North made GTA 5 and its predecessors, one would have to assume that GTA 6 would follow suit.

Thus, it's worth looking at the GTA Trilogy's flaws as its own and not automatically assign it as an overarching problem for Rockstar Games as a whole. Fans who don't recognize Grove Street Games' name might remember them as their old name, War Drum Studios LLC.

If they don't, then they should know that the studio worked on the bad ports for GTA San Andreas. These ports introduced new bugs and other problems that weren't prevalent in the original games.

At the very least, those games were functional and weren't a complete broken mess like the GTA Trilogy's launch was. Still, hardcore gamers disliked their old ports and were concerned about the GTA Trilogy even before its global debut.

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GTA 6's future

Nobody even knows what the official artwork for GTA 6 looks like (Image via TweakTown)

There is always a possibility that GTA 6 could be Rockstar North's first panned game, but there is nothing to suggest that at the moment. If it ends up bad, then that's a separate issue that doesn't involve Grove Street Games or the GTA Trilogy. As there are no official announcements related to the popular title, there is nothing to analyze on this front.

Some leakers, like Tom Henderson, have stated that they expect the game to come out around 2025. That is a long way away from the GTA Trilogy's failure of a launch. It's far too early to announce GTA 6 if that were the case.

Hence, fans can only be patient and understand that its potential successes and failures aren't directly tied to the GTA Trilogy.