GTA Trilogy's Physical Edition For Switch Has Been Delayed, Will Now Arrive In "Early 2022"

Cool maybe they’ll function and all be on the cartridge so I don’t have to waste 40 gigs of microsd space

@Ocaz and maybe they won’t look like they were renders in a 2004 made for tv cgi kids film

Truly one of the biggest disappointments of 2021. For shame, Rockstar. 😒 $0 from me.

@Funneefox I doubt they’ll change the style, that’s usually pretty locked in from an early stage. I’ve never played any of these but I’d try them if they end up fixing things.

Unless the cartridge builds are separate to the eShop ones (that is, with the patches woven into a revised “Version 1.0” build) this is completely and utterly meaningless to the consumer, and only means that it will take longer for the “physical” release to become bargain bin fodder as it so sorely deserves.

And I strongly doubt that Rockstar are going to suddenly discard hundreds of thousands of cartridges to salvage this complete and utter disaster of a release.

Because even if Rockstar decided to include all three games on a new and improved cartridge, unless the cartridge build is separate to the eShop ones, users will still have to download the bulk of any updates thus far in addition to any subsequent updates (however inconsequential or small later updates will be). I long suspected that Vice City was going to be excluded from the cartridge due to the 120MB preload size, acting as a glorified launcher for the purposes of the “physical” release (requiring a 5GB+ update in order to actually play the game). So, even if Rockstar went ahead and produced a 32GB cart, if they make any updates to Vice City beyond the launch build, you will still be required to download the entirety of the 5GB+ “update”, and hence why I don’t understand why they’re delaying the release at all.

And to think there was so much buzz around this release. It would have sold itself based on the strength of the brand alone and Rockstar - in their infinite wisdom - decided to take a dump in their own shoes.

Surprise surprise

It's to late man...... gta trilogy is already dead

Well gosh-diddly-darn this was looking to be the greatest game port in decades!

It better be sold on a budget price.

Despite the pessimism (lately very common around here ...) that has been had by these games, for me, I feel that the delay is good news, since, in addition to the fact that the game (s) will be available for Switch in format physical without using much of the memory of the console (or SD), very possibly it will be fixed of all those failures ^. ^
Well, we'll just have to wait a little longer.

This is a media talk for "we don't really want to release a physical version of this game at all" well i was actually planning on buying that. But to be fair i totally expected this to happen to the Switch version following it's disastrous launch.

This really was a disaster, it was the first game they've put on Nintendo consoles since 2017 and the first GTA game in well over a decade.

My guess is that, having been panned so hard by every single angle, they've thrown their kiddy toys out of the pram and quite possibly canned the Switch physical version. With some understandable reasons though.

Considering releasing a game on the Switch physically actually costs a developer money to do and the bad reception this game has thus far gotten, I'd imagine Rockstar probably have cut their loses on this one.

don't expect to see a Switch version of this game at all, if you want to play it, you best free up some space on your SD card

Surprised….. very surprised

I said when it was announced if there wasn’t all 3 on the cartridge it would be a hard pass for me. Now it turns out it’s just a hard pass PERIOD. What a disaster…

IF…. IIIIFFFFFFF they listened to the feedback and are putting all games on the cart with the much needed patches, I’ll switch back over to team Buy. As of now, I’m on team Nah.

Find just add all the fixes & patches in there!

@Gamer_Zeus See, I'd make an argument in agreement that it's probably too expensive for Rockstar.

If this wasn't Rockstar.

You know. GTAV selling new copies + in app purchases every week, Rockstar. One of the most successful games ever, Rockstar. Remastering three of their classics too.

The fact the remakes feel so cheap, and they didn't spring the cash on proper physical copies despite the absolutely monumental slam dunk this game could have been...is hilarious.

Then again, it's not like Rockstar doesn't have history here. L.A Noire was a huge download and less than 4GB on the card.

Or on the disc, as was the case on the other systems too. Downloaded most of the game there too.

If they implement all the patches into the physical cart, I'm okay with this. R* really shipped the bed on this one.

@RupeeClock
I canceled my physical copy so I could take a wait-and-see approach on it. I'm really having quite a bit of fun with it, but not double-dipping fun (so far).

I'll be waiting for forever.

What a surprise

I wonder if Nintendo stepped in after seeing the trainwreck, they are publishing it aren't they? Don't wanna get my hopes up but maybe they're giving us all 3 games + patches on cart.

They have really damaged their legacy! Hope they do physical properly. After something like this, I would expect any company to go the extra mile for it's fans.

Lol, yeah, as if a T2 would do something like that.

(Edit: Nintendo are the ones publishing it...so...there is hope!)

@Gamer_Zeus "Considering releasing a game on the Switch physically actually costs a developer money to do and the bad reception this game has thus far gotten, I'd imagine Rockstar probably have cut their loses on this one."
I think it's quite the opposite: Now they have a bigger incentive for a physical release of the trilogy. I agree that a physical release is costly, but it also gives your game much more visibility that it could ever have by being released just on the eShop.
These remasters have had a terrible reception in the gaming press and internet fandom, but the GTA brand reaches much further than that. There are plenty of people out there that don't read reviews or follow the internet discourse on gaming, but do know what GTA is. And if while shopping in their local retailer's or some online shop, they see the trilogy, they'll go "Wow! GTA on Switch!" and they'll buy it for themselves, or for their teenage nephew or whatever.
This kind of people probably wouldn't be aware of the Trilogy if it just got released on the eShop. That's why I think a physical release is still well worth the investment for Rockstar.
And it's not wishful thinking of my part; I have no intention of buying this trilogy unless they improve it quite a bit. And even if they did and I considered buying it, it's very unlikely that I would go for a half-physical release, with all the inconveniences of both a physical and a non-physical release and none of their advantages.

@Orangezap89 I hope getting banned was worth it. 😉

Edit: Wow, all that over defending the mess that is GTA Definitive Edition. Lol. 🤣

Dang I’m bummed about this, but I think it’s a good sign that they want to ship out a quality physical version that won’t need a huge update after a huge download… hopefully it’s even all on one cart and won’t even require a huge download and will all be on the cart. I got high hopes for this and I think they are going to redeem themselves in the eyes of thoughs that were hating. Rockstar good call and thank you if that’s the case. I’m currently playing LA Noire that I put down years ago in anticipation for the trilogy… now I can just take more time with LA. Really though… I’m guessing the updates that are required to get the games on the level are probably as big as the game and it would have caused a huge mess and complaints on the switch physical realm. I can already see the headlines. GTA physical requires a 20 gig download and 10 gig update. People would freak and just rip them apart. Smart move rockstar… I’ll pay 69.99 if ya throw it all on a card with no download…. Make it happen.

Interesting! So Xbox and PlayStation are still getting it in December which means there's no re-print being done. Presumably the fact these consoles have huge storage and a gaming audience that is used to high data storage downloads for their games.

Meanwhile Switch is delayed with no date indicated which is as good as confirmation they are re-printing the entire stock. Not a good day for landfill... I wonder whether they were put under any pressure by Nintendo? They endorsed and promoted this game after all. Or is it simply the fact the bug fixes and patches are too high to sit alongside existing game cartridge size? Seems unlikely. I think it's a strange decision overall and there must be something behind it as Rockstar would not normally do this.

Best Buy (where I pre ordered) now has the Switch version slated for 12/17/2021. Target sold out of Switch pre orders before Black Friday. I think some of you are naive to how much this is selling on Switch. I'd bet at least a couple million in the US alone including physical pre orders. Uhhhh the wait.

@nocdaes could just be that they want to delay the physical until it's patched to a decent level and Switch is taking longer than the others - The latest patch is taking longer to get to Switch after all.

I reckon the devs finally tried playing the cart after all the QA was done by digital customers and realised there is a fatal glitch that fries your Switch. Who knows what unpatched nonsense is on those skeleton cartridges!

I've moved on. Grand Theft Con

Ironic, they've become the very thing they satirized and commited grand theft on their customers!

@Orangezap89 Don't be sad, there are other old ladies out there for you, just don't let the kink-shamers get to you.

If they put all the games on one cart and patched, I'll consider it. Why not just wait until the games are fully complete and working as intended, there's no rush.

Just makes it more obvious the digital release looked like something still in the QA phase

Maybe I will buy it if everything is on 1 cartridge and they fix all the bugs.

Probably won't happen though.

Gutted but happy to wait for this. Yes it wasn't perfect on release but the Devs are working hard to fix the issues seen. My pre-order for the physical is staying put and I honestly can't wait to play GTA 3 through again.

Anything but three games on cart is a failure for what is already a bad deal

Unless the full game is on the game card then it is entirely pointless buying this. Waste of plastic.

Given the amount of money they make this just looks like penny-pinching.

I don't get why this has been delayed. It was originally set for next week, so surely it's all been manufactured. The only reason I can think of is to stop more people playing these awful ports and complaining to them.

Nope. It’s apparent that Rockstar is giving Switch the second class citizen treatment, so they get nothing from me.

@Ocaz you know better than that

@Aezetz the fact that it’s delayed means they’re fixing bugs in a day 1 patch so

@dmcc0 Yea, sure - but the Switch cartridges are printed around 16 weeks prior to launch. So are they sending it all to landfill? It's still a strange decision to me since they CAN use that stock and patch it via download. It makes me think there's another reason they've taken this decision?

@JoeSooper not getting your hopes up is a wise choice, because they definitely ain’t

@nocdaes I guess it depends how many there are/how much it'll cost. I suspect they're just holding off so that the patches are ready for day one (of the physical release) - they won't want a repeat of the criticism they got when the digital version released.

So... they're delaying the release of a physical version that still requires a huge download because they couldn't afford to use the more expensive 16gb or 32gb Game Card? Man, Rockstar usually isn't this cheap.

Please don’t buy this game. It’s enabling the worst trends in game development. Find the originals somehow if you’re that curious or nostalgic.

I wanted to purchase this game so bad. I haven't bought a game in a long time. This was going to be my return. Then reviews and post rolled out saying how problematic the game was. My heart was broken. Maybe the delay is because they're fixing some stuff. I'll continue to be heartbroken unless I hear otherwise.

@commentlife

That’s exactly why I’m not buying it. When companies actually put forth a genuine effort—The Witcher 3—I’ll reward the effort.

Speaking of which, if Witcher 3 can run/look as good as it does on Switch, there is no excuse for this crap.

I've heard from GameStop and Online the reviews were so bad that they pulled the game indefinitely and probably won't be coming anytime soon.

Ok great, no one cares at the moment, maybe if you can cram all the updates on the cart! LOL. Not holding my breath.

Isn't Take 2 the original cheapskate publisher to make worthless physical prints that don't contain the full content?
Thus is this even worth waiting for?

Nintendo probably has a rule about not releasing a game physically that has a day one patch larger than half the size of the actual game.

Most likely they are going to put GTA3 (patched) on cart and make you download Vice City and San Andreas (patched) for the physical version. They will need to redo the carts to include the Patched version of GTA3.

That's a shame, however I get to save £50 though- So I'm good for now.

How long could it possibly take to ship a download code in a box?

I decided to just buy and play them on iPad instead of console. Much cheaper and Idc how they look on there.