Grand Theft Auto Fans Furious At New Announcement
Grand Theft Auto fans are mad, and they have good reason to be.
This article is more than 2 years old
Los Santos isn’t getting any younger and fans know it. Rockstar was at last week’s PlayStation Showcase, flexing its own grand reveal, and the scoop is as fruitless as it is disappointing: Grand Theft Auto V is getting its second next-generation remaster since blowing the scene wide open eight years ago. Problem is, the game’s maiden voyage was on the PlayStation 3, making it the only first-party Sony exclusive to not receive a followup in the years since eighth generation consoles dominated the market. PlayStation 3 hits like God of War III, Assassin’s Creed 2, Hitman: Absolution, and the Uncharted trilogy have moved on with their respective sequels since, with Grand Theft Auto V inexplicably left behind in the dust. And fans are miffed.
The PS5 re-release video for Grand Theft Auto V currently has a like-dislike ratio of 26,000 to 130,000 on PlayStation’s official YouTube account. The Rockstar Games equivalent is performing just as poorly with 33,000 upvotes and a staggering 122,000 downvotes. Fans are certainly making their grievances known. Check them out:
Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa, and Trevor Phillips are tighter than Niko Bellic’s measly underworld connections, but they have been robbing banks for close to a decade. Instead of retreading a tired narrative, a fresh take on the gangland ties that make up Grand Theft Auto is in swift order. Unfortunately, players have waited for the clips to fall, so to speak, since forever and everyone wants answers. Rumors of an upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI have left insiders in apparent disarray, with Rockstar continuing to deflect leads with the cantankerous overconfidence of a Marvel Studios executive working on a Spider-Man movie. The only franchise that has suffered the same backlogged progress is Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, its last entry (Blacklist) dated 2013 — same as Grand Theft Auto V. Yet Ubisoft more than made up for it by introducing a brand-new series — The Division — to universal acclaim.
The trailer for the PlayStation 5 remaster of Grand Theft Auto V tries to simulate novelty by crowing about new equipment and speedy, next-generation performances, but the game looks nothing different on paper. The action remains “explosive” and character switching is just as “seamless.” The improvements aren’t nearly as palpable as the jump from Marvel’s Spider-Man to the PS5 remaster, or the aesthetic switch from the Greek isles to the Nordic expanse in God of War. So much for revisiting Los Santos. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the “expanded and enhanced” GTA V and the original PC version:
Rockstar Games is robbing players blind and peddling the pandemic era’s biggest scam and fans aren’t taking it sitting down. Grand Theft Auto has been trending all weekend. Here are some of the highlights on Twitter:
Some Grand Theft Auto fans are letting their fury show in one of the healthiest ways possible: in hilarious Twitter memes.
Rockstar isn’t big on new releases. Instead of a sixth installment, the studio has rubber-stamped several remasters, beginning with a bundle trilogy: Grand Theft Auto III, GTA: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. And now the PlayStation 5 port for GTA V. Rockstar’s only conceivable newborn is Red Dead Redemption 2, released in 2018 to mostly positive reviews. But even Bully is backed up. When it comes to initiative, Rockstar Games is failing spectacularly. Company bluster is emptier than a jammed gun and fans can see right through it. Imagine existing unchanged for eight years without any additional story DLCs. Only Rockstar could pull it off and seem completely unfazed.
The ninth-generation remaster of Grand Theft Auto V, with GTA Online bundled in, is presently delayed, but will come out sometime 2022.
