GamesActionGrand Theft AutoGTA OnlineRockstar didn’t need to fix Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy before GTA 6, but the move will likely prove genius in the months to comeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesActionGrand Theft AutoGTA OnlineRockstar didn’t need to fix Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy before GTA 6, but the move will likely prove genius in the months to comeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)
White knuckles, clenched jaw, frown lines buried deeper than my hatred for these purple bastard aliens. A baseball bat in hand and I’m going to town on the enemy like a battered pinata.GTA Onlinein 2020 was…something.And I’m repping green morph suits ‘til I die.
In the throes of the harshest quarantine restrictions enforced overnight at the height of the global pandemic almost five years ago, the rules in our favorite virtual spaces remained the same throughout. Fighting faceless players on-screen while wrestling with boredom away from it helped to maintain the status quo.
GTA Online was no different. Until the dawn of the green and purple alien war – an inadvertent, player-made movement that ultimately led to a perceivable shift in policy for Rockstar and the company’s player-facing narrative.
Fast forward a few years, and the long-demanded repairs to the beleaguered GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition mark the latest phase of this evolution. Rockstar didn’tneedto fix the Grove Street Games-led offering three years following its turbulent launch, but with GTA 6 now peeking its head just above the trenches, doing so has been a masterstroke in maintaining positive community sentiment.
GG-TA
(Image credit: Rockstar)
Back to the future(Image credit: Rockstar; Reddit)The 26-year evolution of the GTA logo – from the original Grand Theft Auto to GTA 6
Back to the future
(Image credit: Rockstar; Reddit)The 26-year evolution of the GTA logo – from the original Grand Theft Auto to GTA 6
(Image credit: Rockstar; Reddit)
The 26-year evolution of the GTA logo – from the original Grand Theft Auto to GTA 6
As a long-standingGTA Onlineplayer with well over 2,000 hours clocked, I reckon the alien gang war of 2020 is up there with my favorite moments roving the blood-spattered streets of Los Santos.
What started out as a modest off-the-cuff contingent of bothersome players wearing the Green Martian Bodysuit cosmetic item, equipped with Louisville sluggers on a whim, ultimately exploded into a mass-server conflict between millions of players that quickly consumed pockets of Instagram and TikTok.
A competing Purple Martian Bodysuit-sporting faction was born to police the greens, and for a while it became impossible to find a server not in on the action. God forbid you stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time wearing the wrong colors. Or, even worse, found yourself face-to-face with either side wearing no colors at all. The city had no room for cowards.
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At the end of 2020, Rockstar dropped the Cayo Perico update, and rounded out the following year with two major hits: the Dr Dre-starring Contract update for GTA Online, and the aforementioned GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition – one of which was revered, the other of which was ridiculed for its broken state on arrival.
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)
As it strived to address the litany of complaints levied at the modern day reimaginings of OG Liberty City, Vice and San Andreas with a flurry of patches and fixes, seeing the otherwise flawless Rockstar with egg on its face was a jarring break from the norm.
Community serviced
(Image credit: Rockstar)
The lingering bad faith tied to the Definitive Edition has all but evaporated, it would appear…
The lingering bad faith tied to the Definitive Edition has all but evaporated, it would appear…
For me, it’s no coincidence that Rockstar has since doubled down on its community initiatives in the run-up toGrand Theft Auto 6in the looming shadow of relative vulnerability.
The string of Heist Challenges that have seen players combine to smash pre-set targets over the last 24 months are one facet of this. The North Yankton Nightmare zombie-killing event is another; as are last year’s Doomsday Scenario Challenge (within which players smashed the $100 billion in-game goal five times over), and this year’s Pizza Delivery Community Challenge.
Acquiring the popular fan-made multiplayer client FiveM last year speaks to the future of what could be in the community space – a purchase that’ll likely show its true worth whenever GTA 6 lands on PC – and, going full circle, fixing the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition feels like the final cog in the machine that kick starts the next stretch of Rockstar’s legacy.
(Image credit: Rockstar)
The lingering bad faith tied to the Definitive Edition has all but evaporated, it would appear, with Rockstar the white knight to Grove Street Games’ pantomime villain. From a businessandperception perspective, it’s such a shrewd move as we approach the new year, and, of course, the final stretch before our return to Vice City.
Love is a Long Road, so croons the late Tom Petty in Trailer 1. With the Definitive Edition’s long and winding road now complete, and with GTA 6’s promised 2025 window hurtling towards us at a rate of knots, the end of that journey is now just about in sight. And Rockstar has played a blinder getting as many people on-side for the finale.
Yes I know you can’t wait for GTA 6, but I’m still waiting for Rockstar to bring us Bully 2
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More about grand theft autoAs Rockstar continues to give nothing away about GTA 6, notoriously chatty Vice City and San Andreas dev thinks “secrecy is a good thing” as knowing too much “ruins the experience"Everything in the GTA Online Agents of Sabotage update
More about grand theft auto
As Rockstar continues to give nothing away about GTA 6, notoriously chatty Vice City and San Andreas dev thinks “secrecy is a good thing” as knowing too much “ruins the experience"Everything in the GTA Online Agents of Sabotage update
As Rockstar continues to give nothing away about GTA 6, notoriously chatty Vice City and San Andreas dev thinks “secrecy is a good thing” as knowing too much “ruins the experience”
As Rockstar continues to give nothing away about GTA 6, notoriously chatty Vice City and San Andreas dev thinks “secrecy is a good thing” as knowing too much “ruins the experience”
Everything in the GTA Online Agents of Sabotage update
Everything in the GTA Online Agents of Sabotage update
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”