Rockstar offline: What's wrong with the GTA Trilogy on PC?
It's been a weird 24 hours for those who purchased Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on PC. The game launched yesterday on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch, but it wasn't long before Rockstar pulled the game from sale on PC and disabled the Rockstar Games Launcher on the platform. With long periods of silence from Rockstar, it's been difficult to figure out just what is happening – or when the trilogy will return.
The case of the vanishing GTA games
If you head over to the Rockstar website at the moment, you'll see that the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is no longer up for sale. It was removed entirely from Rockstar's store shortly after it launched yesterday, and it's been unobtainable since then. Rockstar so far has given no reason for pulling the PC version from sale, and we have no idea when it might be available again.
The Rockstar Games Launcher has been down for much of the last day as well. The Rockstar Games Launcher is the only way to play Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on PC, so those who managed to purchase the PC version before it was removed from sale can't even play it.
Services for the Rockstar Games Launcher and supported titles are temporarily offline for maintenance. Services will return as soon as maintenance is completed.
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) November 11, 2021
The Rockstar Support Twitter account first notified users that it was taking the Rockstar Games Launcher offline for "maintenance" around 20 hours ago. In the time since then, it has only posted one update thanking fans for their patience as Rockstar works to restore service. For now, we have no idea when the Rockstar Games Launcher and the PC titles that need it will be functional again.
A far-reaching problem
More titles beyond Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition are impacted by the Rockstar Games Launcher being taken offline. Obviously, players can't access any PC games they purchased directly through Rockstar while the Launcher is offline, but it gets even worse than that. As Kotaku points out, certain Rockstar games available through Steam require the Launcher as well – notably Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA Online – meaning those have been inaccessible all this time, too.
It's hard to get a handle on what's going on here simply because Rockstar has been so quiet. Even if the Rockstar Games Launcher requires a full day of maintenance – which is strange but not unheard of – why was the PC version of the GTA Trilogy delisted from Rockstar's website? Is the game going to be relisted once this maintenance with the Rockstar Games Launcher is over?
So far, it seems the fan reactions to the GTA trilogy have been mixed at best. The compilation offers remasters of three PS2-era Grand Theft Auto titles: GTA III, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas, though some fans have taken to social media to express their frustration with the apparent quality of the remasters. Perhaps the PC version was delisted in response to those criticisms? We'll have to wait for Rockstar to provide an update and clarify the matter. Assuming it does so, we'll let you know what the company says.