Why GTA Trilogy's huge success on Netflix could result in more AAA games on the platform

The Definitive Edition GTA Trilogy was recently launched on mobile through Netflix Games, and it exploded in popularity with a record number of downloads. It was praised for improving over the previous release of the remastered trilogy on PC and consoles, which was riddled with bugs and had sloppy graphics.

This was the first major title launched by Netflix Games, and it has undoubtedly paved the way for high-quality games on mobiles in the near future. Mobile gaming has always been seen as a secondary medium that comes after console and PC gaming. However, with the arrival of Grand Theft Auto (GTA): The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition (DE) on mobiles, players can hope to play AAA games on their smartphones as well.

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GTA Trilogy's success can bring about an era of AAA mobile games

After releasing the Definitive Edition remasters of the original 3D Trilogy on PC and consoles, Rockstar stated that they would also launch it on mobiles. The original 3D Trilogy — GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas — already existed on mobiles, but these were removed to make way for the remasters.

After a year-long wait, the remastered versions of these games finally made their way to mobile devices in December 2023. The games were launched through streaming giant Netflix, which has its own subscription service that provides free games. The GTA Trilogy on mobile recently surpassed over 18 million downloads, a testament to the popularity of the mobile gaming market.

The DE Trilogy on mobile looks and runs a bit differently from the Switch version. It has fixed several graphical issues that were there in the remasters, and it also managed to restore the aesthetics of the originals. The original Trilogy had some stunning color tones for each game, and these were somewhat ruined by the generic "HD" look of the remasters. The Netflix versions of the GTA Trilogy, however, have managed to maintain the original tone of the games.

Now, mobile gamers believe that since HD remasters of such mainstream video games were made possible on mobile, more AAA titles should be launched on smartphones. While this may not be feasible right now, it's definitely a possibility in the near future. More and more ambitious games are being launched on mobile, and many popular live service games have ventured into mobile gaming.

Minecraft, PUBG, Call of Duty, Genshin Impact, and even Fortnite have made it to mobile devices, so it's not too far-fetched to expect that mobile gamers will soon see more titles from AAA development studios arrive on Android on iOS. Some major AAA PC games have been ported over to Android and iOS by Feral Interactive, like Rome: Total War, Grid Autosport, Tropico, Company of Heroes, XCOM, and even Hitman: Blood Money.

While these aren't new games, they were fairly big AAA games when they came out. The mere fact that such massive games can run on modern smartphones proves that the mobile gaming industry is evolving quite fast. Rockstar has always had a presence on mobile, and although their HD Universe titles haven't been officially released on mobiles yet, fans have made emulating GTA 5 on mobile possible.