Update (11/13/21) – Rockstar Support on Twitter has confirmed that “the Rockstar Games Launcher is now online, but GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is unavailable to play or purchase as we remove files unintentionally included in these versions. We’re sorry for the disruption and hope to have correct ones up soon.”
The original story follows.
Rockstar has pulled Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition from sale on PC, seemingly due to ongoing issues with its Rockstar Games Launcher service that render it unplayable.
At time of writing, the PC version of the remastered GTA Trilogy is not available to buy on Rockstar’s website. Those who did buy the game on PC are unable to play it, as the Rockstar Games Launcher – which is required to play the collection – has been offline for around 15 hours.
Just a few hours after the release of the collection, Rockstar’s support Twitter account explained, “Services for the Rockstar Games Launcher and supported titles are temporarily offline for maintenance. Services will return as soon as maintenance is completed.” This means that GTA Trilogy, as well as games like GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 cannot be played on PC right now.
14 hours later, the account provided an update, saying only, “We thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work on restoring services for the Rockstar Games Launcher and supported titles.”
It’s not clear what has caused the need for maintenance or how long that maintenance will take, and Rockstar hasn’t formally confirmed that the game has been pulled from sale because of the downtime. We have contacted Rockstar for comment.
As you might expect, the response has not been good, with players left upset that their new collection of single-player games are rendered unplayable by an issue with a separate program:
I think @RockstarGames made the case today for two things
1) Just put your game on Steamn
2) Tying a SINGLEPLAYER game to an online launcher is beyond stupid.You dropped so many balls today Rockstar. I’ve been a fan for so long, but I find it hard to defend this level of fail.
— Kreyg (@Kreyg) November 12, 2021
The Rockstar Games Launcher was up long enough to take my money, but now I can’t play the GTA Trilogy because their services are down lol pic.twitter.com/PZigmdit1F
— Sweet Lu (@LCMendez) November 11, 2021
I think it’s about time for Rockstar to shift back to Steam. The Rockstar Games Launcher has been down for nearly 10 hours and I’m unable to access the games that I paid for.
Frustrated about this all…
— Ben (@videotech_) November 12, 2021
We haven’t yet been able to review the GTA Trilogy, because Rockstar didn’t send codes ahead of release – you can likely expect our verdict next week.
Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
