Classic GTA Games Given Out As Apology For Broken Remasters Also Don't Work Properly

It's not been a great few weeks for Rockstar Games. After a shocking release weekend, the company was forced to admit it screwed in a big way with Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition.

The collection, which includes remasters of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas, was pulled from sale on PC for a few days almost immediately after launch. Rockstar was then flooded with complaints and refund requests over the state of the game, and the trilogy briefly ended up as the worst-rated game of 2021 as a result.

Rockstar soon issued an apology, and has already released the first in a line of updates that aim to drastically improve the state of all three games. As an added bonus, it also gifted the original versions of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas to PC users for free.

“While one of the goals of the Definitive Editions was to allow players to enjoy these games on modern platforms for many years to come, we also understand that some of you would still like to have the previous classic versions available for purchase,” Rockstar said.

“We will be adding the classic PC versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas back to the Rockstar Store shortly as a bundle. Additionally, everyone who has purchased Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition for PC from the Rockstar Store through June 30, 2022, will receive these classic versions in their Rockstar Games Launcher library at no additional cost."

This was a nice touch, and went a long in redeeming Rockstar in the eyes of many frustrated consumers. Unfortunately, it's now been pointed out that the original versions of the three games don't actually work properly on modern Windows devices.

According to noted GTA insider Ben Turpin, the PC ports contained in this apology bundle haven't actually been updated since they were first released back in the early 2000s. Worse still, players can't download any mods to enhance the overall experience.

"It's good to see them back but surely going back to the source and updating a few things wouldn't hurt, right?" Turpin noted. "The team behind RE3 managed to get GTA III and Vice City on a much more modern executable file so all the latest versions of Windows can run these games."

No doubt it will once again fall to the fans to find ways to overcome this latest hurdle.

Featured Image Credit: Rockstar Games

Topics: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games