In short, Rockstar’s decision to pull Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas from sale is the biggest and most clear indicator so far that they don’t have confidence in their own product. But if the remaster is anywhere close to being as good as it should be, that shouldn’t even be a concern! “Money” is part of the answer Rockstar doesn’t want the renewed attention on these three games pushing people to just pick up the original versions of one or more of the titles instead of paying a reported $70 (£60-65 in the UK) for the new version. Warcraft III: Reforged is an example of how not to handle a remaster. As attention shifts to the remaster, Rockstar doesn’t want anyone to be able to purchase the original version of these games. All three have been de-listed – industry slang meaning they’ve been removed from sale digitally – on all of the platforms where they had been available. The reason I bring up Warcraft III: Reforged as an example of a “remaster” gone wrong is because Grand Theft Auto developers Rockstar have chosen to do the exact same thing with The Definitive Edition’s three constituent games. With no way to return to the original version of the game, many fans were left stuck. Promised features were missing, the game was riddled with bugs, and overall fans considered it an awful experience.

Fans could no longer play the original Warcraft III, and that became a massive problem when the “remaster” ended up being absolutely atrocious. When Warcraft III was “remastered” last year, the original version of the game was pulled from sale. Three older games are getting the so-called “remaster” treatment from Rockstar.

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