Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto

 Here's to the future.

Well wouldn't you know it, I have a retrospective on Grand Theft Auto and Rockstar due out for today and then suddenly Rockstar drops some honest-to-goodness gameplay of the Definitive Trilogy collection and it's all the air. Almost as though they knew I was coming and preplanned the release of this in order to distract the world from cutting critique, how else would they time this so ludicrously well? Is it mere coincidence? I THINK- yes, actually. We were running out of room in the year for Rockstar to get this game out before December and not even they have the gall to try and release a game in current year without coughing up a bit of raw gameplay first. Even after the last time they did that very thing (with GTA V expanded and enhanced) and it bit them squarely in the arse. (Maybe they should have actually put together a worthwhile product, hmm.)

So I've seen the footage, and my honest thoughts. It looks good, it genuinely does. I mean it's not one of those mindblowing remasters that have come out these past few years, which completely rebuild a game from the ground up and make it look brand spanking new. (And I did say that I knew it wasn't going to be.) What they've done instead is a little above my expectations, which was just a default1080p upscale patch and a pat on their backs for the hard work; no Rockstar actually got together and retooled the very engines at play here to create games that keeps the artstyle of the original games but with glossier textures, improved draw distance, reflecting surfaces and some great looking rain. I'm really excited about that last part because I simply love rain in video games and San Andreas repeatedly let me down on that front, maybe they went the extra distance and fixed the 'rain falling through roofs' problem! (Okay, now I know I'm asking too much.)

Some will undoubtedly be disappointed about the scope of these remasters, expecting their very own Demon Souls quality changing things up, but the entire point was to keep the spirit of the original games alive and well and I think the team managed that admirably. What Rockstar performed much worse on, adversely, was all their PR decisions in the lead up to this. Why did they attack their own modding community for high resolution patches and graphic tweak mods that for one, were no where near as extensive as these remasters and thus were due to become obsolete anyway and two, would have been for games that Rockstar have decided not to sell anymore? That's right, these remasters are going to be replacing the old games and all store fronts, so what's the bloody point of killing off modders who were working on entirely depreciated build of your game? Is it a power trip thing, trying to make sure they don't even think of touching the remasters with their filthy peasants hands? I'm feeling like that might it.

But people who have no knowledge, or stake, within the Modding world can rest easily in the knowledge that Rockstar hasn't forgotten saving a backdoor method for screwing you too. Because how much do you think this collection costs? It's exactly what you're thinking. £60, the remasters of twenty year old games. Ones that they're going to try and force onto the market over games that we already own. Does this mean that us who already own all three of these games are due a free copy? Hell no. We're just going to get a mean mugging from Rockstar until we end up kowtowing to their financial savviness. And whatsmore, there hasn't even been any word of this collection coming to PC at all. Steam didn't even get a logo in the trailer, which could portend a simple 1 week delay like with Red Dead Redemption II, but I can't be the only person thinking we probably aren't going to be so lucky this time.

None of this excuses, or even praises, the state of GTA V in the here and now, because a game which almost 10 years ago was considered one of Rockstar's best and now is a laughing stock. The tail end of the excitement behind this reveal is caught up in the sourness left behind from the fact that Rockstar has abandoned Grand Theft Auto as a series practically dead for what's nearing a decade now. (Just a couple more years to go) Fans are seeing this trailer and going "Here we go, that's their next excuse for not working on the next GTA", and it's hard to argue with that. The latest rerelease effort for GTA V brings so little to the table, most of which are garbage empty promises anyway, that it's starting to feel like Rockstar will use any excuse not to work on Grand Theft Auto Six, almost like they're afraid, or financially incentivised, to linger in perpetuity.

And that may have something to do with Grand Theft Auto Online. That Online addendum has blown up into Rockstar's biggest money generator and it's overtaken the rationality of every single official in the company. You ask them what's next for the company and they won't be able to respond to you for their eyes will have been taken over by actual money signs. Insult rubs with injury when you actually go into Online itself and realise "Oh wait, this is a pile of crap too". What began life as an online space which tried to bring petty crime to an online audience has balloned so far out of control that the game doesn't even feel like a GTA title anymore. Which is a weird thing to think when you're talking about a series as wide and diverse as GTA, but when you're flying around rocket powered bikes between your soviet-era submarine and underground secret agent orbital-cannon operation base, as you plan your next daring mission to foil super hackers attempting to destroy the world; you have to realise that car theft fell out of the formula somewhere.

But the worst thing of all when it comes to thinking about GTA's future. How this will inevitably reflect upon Grand Theft Auto VI. (Because you know that it will) Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead after it have both been dropped of significant content support immediately after their release in favour of online content, and Rockstar haven't developed a single piece of downloadable content for either franchise. (Undead nightmare was a whole new purchasable game, and allowing pre-order specifics to be bought now doesn't count) When GTA VI comes out, I wouldn't be surprised if things haven't fallen away even further to the point where the entire game just ends up being a poorly disguised attempt to point players to GTA Online 2. In fact, we can probably expect more and more development time shifted from the game people want to the one which makes Rockstar money, and it could end up meaning that the Grand Theft Auto Six we're waiting for ends up even weaker against expectation than we all likely just assume.

So where does all of this leave us? With a bad taste in our mouths, waiting for a studio that seems to be steadily teeing themselves for a Bethesda or CD Projekt Red style fall from grace. In fact, it really does seem like they're several years overdue for one, as the signs things are falling to the wayside (important departures, internal focus shift away from things that makes the games good, etc.) aren't usually this well known and acknowledged this much by the community. (Typically we have to wait for the investigative retrospection articles.) Maybe it won't be with this remaster release (it does look pretty good) or even with Rockstar's next big game, but eventually the bottom will fall out when the direction their heading severs them from the fanbase who sing their praises so much. It sucks how much of an inevitability that fact is in the gaming world.