Players have discovered that Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition's brand-new Busted screen seemingly contains a free police siren stock image previously used by several news websites, once again sparking controversy for Grove Street Games. Prior to its launch, fans expressed their concern over the development of the remastered collection due to Grove Street Games' track record, with GTA Definitive Edition screenshots criticized for their unpolished appearance ahead of the game's release. Grove Street Games is primarily known for releasing Rockstar ports, including the seventh-generation console versions of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two announced the long-rumored GTA remaster trilogy in October, promising revamped versions of groundbreaking PS2 classics - Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas - for modern systems. The remastered trilogy was said to have graphical enhancements, a variety of general improvements, and modernized controls similar to Grand Theft Auto V. Though information remained scant within its first full trailer, the pre-release gameplay leaked online led to overwhelmingly negative early impressions from fans who criticized the remaster for appearing as a refurbished version of previous mobile ports, which was later confirmed by a hacker who discovered hidden touchscreen controls within GTA trilogy's code shortly after its release.
Controversy over Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition continues, as one player has discovered that Grove Street Games seemingly reused a popular police stock image for the collection. Shared on Twitter, user lasextaestrella posted an image of the Busted screen used in each title in the remastered collection, along with an image reportedly taken from a website called TrueBlueLine. While the original trilogy fades to black when Busted, the new remastered collection displays a blue and red overlay that resembles a police siren to indicate that the player has been arrested. Popular hacker and investigator Vadim M claims this is a stock image widely used by news outlets covering police material, and fans are once again displeased with its developers.
Following backlash over the release, Rockstar admitted the GTA trilogy failed to meet its expectations in terms of quality, and announced plans to squash the remaining issues and add improvements. It's possible that the stock image may be removed in one of the upcoming fixes, though nothing has yet been confirmed. Despite promises to fix the title, players have been quick to flood Rockstar‘s support site to ask for refunds due to its numerous technical issues and inconsistencies. Some consumers are being met with unresolved delays or rejected inquires and have taken to review bombing the collection in response.
The Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is considered a new low for Rockstar Games, and it's not yet clear when the game will meet the standards its players were expecting at launch. While patches and bug fixes have already begun rolling out, there are a myriad of issues with the games, which could make this a long project for Rockstar and Grove Street Games. Many players are now casting down on any future projects from the company, suggesting Rockstar has some way to go in appeasing fans. Rumors of a Rockstar announcement during the recent The Game Awards livestream were met with disdain from players convinced that not even GTA 6 could help restore faith in the team. At this stage, it's unknown if the GTA trilogy will ever live up to its full potential.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is now available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It will launch separately on iOS and Android in H1 2022.
Source: lasextaestrella/Twitter, Vadim M./Twitter