Nothing succeeds like success, as the old saying goes, and nowhere is that more true than in videogames. Sequels have been a foundational part of the business for years, and more recently remakes and remasters have become big, bringing our favorite games from years gone by onto new hardware. But two huge and obvious candidates for the remastering treatment—Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto 4—have reportedly been halted by Rockstar.
The problem, according to Rockstar insider Tez2, is the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, a remastered set of Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, which was a full-on mess when it launched in November 2021. There's plenty of in-depth criticism and analysis out there if you want to get into it, but this pretty much covers it all:
What the FUCK pic.twitter.com/1tPeUAsdB7November 10, 2021
Tez2 clarified in a reply tweet that remasters of GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption were only in the "ideas and plans" stage, but they were planned—Rockstar was apparently waiting to see how the GTA trilogy panned out before going all-on on production. And it actually did quite well in terms of sales, which Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said "significantly" exceeded commercial expectations and provided a major contribution to the company's ongoing financial success.
But it was also a lot of egg on Rockstar's previously unblemished face: The studio was forced to apologize for the mess, re-release the old versions of the trilogy games, and even give players another game for free to make up for it. They also probably had to listen to a lot of "busted nut" jokes, too.
As per a reliable source with clear accuracy on Rockstar plans, remasters of GTA IV & RDR1 were on the table a few years ago, but Rockstar chose not to proceed with the projects in mind.The poor reception of the Trilogy DE might be a reason behind that decision.#GTAIV #RDR1July 4, 2022
Kotaku confirmed Tez2's tweet in its own report, with a little extra nuance. Sources told the site that Rockstar is focusing its effort on Grand Theft Auto 6 for now and waiting for the ugliness of the GTA Trilogy botch to blow over, but that Red Dead and GTA 4 remasters could still happen at some point down the road, after the release of GTA 6. I've reached out to Rockstar for comment and will update if I receive a reply.
