GTA: More and more MODs are being phased out

GTA

Take-Two, the publisher of the GTA series, seems to have a very difficult relationship with mods. It is not the first time (and probably it will not be the last) that we talk about it, but now the story, also thanks to the release of the collection that includes the first three 3D chapters of the series, has taken on decidedly strange outlines. >
In the last few hours, in fact, Take-Two has literally carried out a massacre. With a simple copyright recall, in fact, the GTA publisher had GTA Advance PC Port, a trainer for The Lost and Damned and other mods removed. Nothing new, in fact, if we consider that the decision to remove some mods from the fourth chapter, including a 65% save of one of the expansions, comes right after a series of rumors for its remastering. Almost as if removing these mods was a way to protect future sales of a project not yet officially confirmed and not disclosed to the general public.

Now, we don't want to fuel speculation or conspiracy theories. Take-Two Interactive has always frowned upon the mods of its games, so much so that very often gigantic projects have seen closure after a report from the publisher. Yet the latest maneuvers of the publisher are really very strange: GTA Trilogy has completely obscured the original games, which were removed from Steam almost immediately after the announcement and the community of modders is definitely suspicious of these decisions, which are becoming more and more prolific. and increase dramatically over time.

The situation therefore appears very thorny and very smoky. The modder scene in GTA has always existed, from more series mods that even added missions and total rework of old games to technical ones, but now it risks becoming extinct due to these maneuvers. We always hope that Take-Two Interactive will somehow rethink it, but the idea that there is more than just copyright protection has grown dramatically in the last few hours.

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The ‘GTA Trilogy’ Isn’t The New ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ The Definitive Edition Is Worse

GTA 3/Cyberpunk 2077

Rockstar/CDPR

Yesterday, Cyberpunk 2077 started trending on social media, and surprise, it wasn’t because of any new updates to the game. Rather, it was because people were comparing the disastrous launch of the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: The Definitive Edition, to the release of Cyberpunk 2077, one of the biggest letdowns in gaming.

For me, that’s actually an insult to Cyberpunk 2077, because what we’re seeing with the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is worse.

Don’t get me wrong, I can still recite the list of Cyberpunk 2077’s crimes by heart. The game was barely playable on last-gen consoles, so much so that Sony removed the entire game from the PlayStation store for six months. CDPR lied about its performance on those consoles and didn’t give out console review codes ahead of time.

The game itself fell short of the lofty expectations that had been set for it, as it was missing a lot of features, had issues with AI and a myriad of goofy bugs at launch. It wasn’t the game that was promised, even if over time, many fans found they could have a good time with it, and opinions have somewhat softened a year later for many. That said, it remains a cautionary tale.

Cyberpunk 2077

CDPR

So, if all this went wrong, why am I saying what’s going on with the GTA Definitive Edition is worse?

One quote I read yesterday was that CDPR shot for the moon with Cyberpunk 2077 and missed, while Rockstar shot for the ground and somehow…still missed.

Cyberpunk 2077 was attempting to make a sprawling, brand new RPG and surpass the beloved Witcher 3. The GTA Definitive Edition was simply remastering a bunch of old games, a seemingly far easier task, and it still went so, so terribly wrong.

What’s going on with the PC edition of the game right now is bizarre. Sony took Cyberpunk offline on the PS store, but you could still buy physical copies or play the digital version you already owned. But Rockstar itself has taken the PC version of GTA down in order to remove files left inside it ranging from everything from unlicensed songs to proprietary company tools to the San Andreas Hot Coffee sex mod. So, even if you bought the PC version, Rockstar is literally preventing you from playing it indefinitely.

There’s also the broadness of the poor performance to consider. Cyberpunk 2077 was a sliding scale. The PC version of the game actually ran and looked pretty great, even at launch. Xbox Series X and PS5 playing upconverted last-gen versions were okay, not amazing. Last gen consoles, especially base PS4 and Xbox One, were quite bad. But GTA Definitive Edition? All the versions, all six, PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch are all performing badly for most players. People have commented that somehow PS3 ran GTA 5 better than a PS5 is running GTA 3. How is that happening?

GTA

Metacritic

Cyberpunk’s issue was that it leaned too hard into the PC version while ignoring consoles. Rockstar’s problem is that they tasked a mobile-based studio with remastering these three games mostly based on a mobile port, and as a result, the hardware doesn’t matter because the software has so many issues.

Finally, perhaps the worst aspect of all this, something that elevates what Rockstar has done here to a new level, is the fact that they spent time hunting down player-made remaster mods and taking those offline, and then stopped selling the original versions of the game altogether, clearing the way for this remaster which is worse than any of them. That was a terrible, terrible move, and fans are rightly roasting them for it now, given the state of the game.

This is not a project that should have been done halfheartedly. These are three of the most popular, most beloved games in industry history. They deserved proper care and attention for a quality remaster, not whatever…this was. And it does not jive with what Take-Two’s Strauss Zelnick said in March about taking the time to do remasters correctly:

'Remastering has always been a part of the strategy. What we've done differently than the competition is we don't just port titles over,' he said. 'We actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release for the new technology that we're launching it on.'

Cyberpunk 2077 had its issues, but zooming back to look at the full picture, I think what’s happening with the GTA Definitive Edition here is clearly worse, given the context, and how much easier the task at hand should have been. We’ll see what fixes they roll out, but this entire endeavor might be irreparable damaged at its core.

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