The controversial GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition continues to create problems 3 years after its launch. From petty claims to removing the names of developers in their work, it just got even messier and took a weird turn…
This week, the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition has been updated across all three games. These patches included a long list of significant improvements. You can read them all here. The feeling around these remasters has changed. Many members of the GTA community are now quite happy with the state these games are in right now. Although there are still some outstanding issues, the current state is as it should be at launch.
The Story So Far
Before we dive into the drama, it’s important to get the context of what happened in the past. The GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition made by Grove Street Games. This company previously worked with Rockstar to bring the original versions of games like GTA San Andreas, Vice City, Bully, etc. to mobile under the name War Drum Studios.
You’d be wrong if you thought they renamed their studio just after the iconic location or gang in GTA San Andreas. They are based in Gainesville, Florida and there is a Grove Street neighborhood located there. Their old office was based there. That’s where the name comes from. This change occurred during the development of the Definitive Edition for “fresh start“. Of course, the GTA connection added to it.
Much of the GTA community blamed the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition issues on Grove Street Games, as they were the ones who primarily made it. Although others have speculated that they may have been given unreasonable deadlines by Rockstar/Take-Two with only a small team. We don’t know the real story of what happened in 2021.
The GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition has received a handful of patches in the year since launch. However, there were still major problems. The mobile ports were what felt like endlessly delayed. After 2 years, they finally came to mobile but the work was not done by Grove Street Games but rather Video Game Deluxe.
There is another…
From the ashes of LA Noire developer Team Bondi, former employees made this new studio. They worked with Rockstar to bring the 1940s detective game to VR then did the mobile release of the trilogy with Netflix Games (Side note, 2 of the 3 games are leaving Netflix next month).
Fans were quick to say that the mobile edition was better than the PC and console versions. They fixed a lot of issues and included a “Classic Light” option. This made the remakes capture the same atmosphere as the originals.
Removal of Grove Street Games?
Console and PC players have been asking for a year to get the Classic Light setting and more fixes. Their wishes were granted this week with a major new update to the collection. A famous community member Vadim M. noticed that the fog effect had his initials in the name.
Among the hundreds of fixes, fans noticed that the Grove Street Games logo was removed from the screen when you booted up the game. The new screen is simply black text with no art and no mention of Grove Street Games.
In addition, some thought that Grove Street Games was removed from the credits and even the mobile version. That is not the case as GTAnet pointed out They are still credited in the game. Removing some of GSG’s credits would be very disappointing as they still worked even if it launched in a way that many fans were upset about. The splash screen removal is still a little weird.
Since this update has been published, it is claimed that Grove Street Games has unfollowed Rockstar Games on Twitter. On Tuesday, the day of the big update, they unfollowed an account as tracked Social Blade. Considering they used to follow Rockstar, it makes sense that it was their account. Rockstar continues to follow GSG.
Grove Street Games CEO Responds With a Twist
Co-founder and CEO of Grove Street Games Thomas Williamson took to Twitter last night to share his thoughts on the splash screen deletion albeit vaguely. He said “Speaking completely hypothetically: It’s an ad*ck move to remove primary developers from credits in an update, especially when an update includes hundreds of fixes that were provided by those developers that stayed out of players’ hands for years.”
What’s so interesting about his comment is that he claims that Grove Street Games actually made the “hundreds of fixes” for this update. This suggests that GSG has actually made a lot of fixes to the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition. Besides, they were made years ago and something prevented them from releasing said updates. Why is this the case if true? This is all very strange.
I’d like to think that Rockstar Games, Grove Street Games and everyone else involved can patch up their relationship. Plus, learning some of the behind-the-scenes details would also help paint a better picture. Given Rockstar’s choice to keep most things secret, that’s probably a dream too far, so we may never know. The launch of the Definitive Edition put a minor stain on Rockstar’s legacy but an even bigger one on the smaller team at GSG.
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