GTA Trilogy Studio Boss Says It’s a 'D**k Move' to Remove Developers From Game Credits After Long-Awaited Rockstar Update Goes Live

The boss of GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition has taken to social media to respond to recent changes made to the game by Rockstar.

This week, Rockstar issued a surprise update for the heavily criticized GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition on PC and console nearly two years after the last one. The patch added a number of visual features that were exclusive to the mobile versions, pleasing disgruntled fans of the groundbreaking open-world games.

GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, a compilation of 2001’s Grand Theft Auto 3, 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, sparked a backlash upon its 2021 launch on PC and console. IGN’s GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition review returned a 5/10. We said: “GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is defective, disappointing, and surprisingly disrespectful to three classic games and their many legions of fans.”

GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition was developed by Grove Street Games, which at the time came under fire for the poor quality of the release. The mobile versions were developed by Video Games Deluxe, the Australian studio behind L.A. Noire VR Case Files.

After this week’s update went live, users noticed Grove Street Games and its logo were removed from GTA Trilogy’s main menu and splash screen. Now, the PC and console versions align with the mobile versions, showing Rockstar as GTA’s developer.

Looks like mentions of Grove Street Games and their logos have been removed from the splash screen and main menu of the #GTA Definitive Editions as well. pic.twitter.com/ZmXpccyiyS

It’s this removal that Thomas Williamson, boss of Grove Street Games, has clearly reacted to in a thinly-veiled tweet.

“Speaking entire hypothetically: it's a dick move to remove primary developers from credits in an update, especially when an update includes hundreds of fixes that were provided by those developers that stayed out of players' hands for years,” Williamson tweeted.

While Williamson’s displeasure at recent events is clear, Grove Street Games and Williamson himself remain in GTA Trilogy’s end credits, as many X/Twitter users have pointed out.

PSA: Rumours being circulated by the community and even some news websites about Grove Street Games (GSG) having been removed from the #GTATrilogy entirely are unfounded.
Both GSG and Video Games Deluxe are in the final credits, only the initial splash screen was removed. pic.twitter.com/MUkvgi2uZX

It’s a messy end for GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, which has endured controversy ever since it came out. Rockstar was forced to apologize for the state of the collection at launch and even offered PC players free games as recompense.

Still, the collection appeared to have sold very well despite the problems, and Strauss Zelnick – CEO of Rockstar parent company Take-Two – eventually called those issues a “glitch” that was “resolved.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.