GTA: The Trilogy Was Based On The Mobile Rereleases Of The Original Trilogy

Things seemed fishy the moment GTA: The Trilogy’s mobile controls were spotted in-game, but what we have now basically confirms it. The remastered original trio of Rockstar Games’ world-renowned open-world video game series wasn’t received too well by the general public and the reasons for that were a gracious plenty. 

 Garnering a 2.4/5.0 overall audience rating summary on Google alone, the trilogy of GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas, and GTA: III were whammed with complaints of lackluster enhancements, not to mention the apparent cut corners and indecent performance. The whole thing was a major let-down to the masses. 

Thanks to Ben (videotech_) on Twitter for finding the original spotter of the story — mnm345x — we might now have an idea why this was so. A former GTA developer working in the Grove Street Games studio has shared images of what appears to be a premature build of the trilogy series on a dedicated platform called ArtStation.

The Rundown: 

• Christopher Walch—an ex-Grove Street Games employee—has uploaded screenshots of The GTA: Trilogy’s early build on ArtStation. 
• The images seem to feature a user interface that perfectly resembles something out of a mobile game.
• The uploaded screenshots thereby confirm that the base outline for the remastered GTA trilogy was, in fact, the mobile iterations of all three original GTA games. 

Although the game engine used at the time of the titles’ development was Unreal Engine 4, fans had another thing coming in terms of the remastered trilogy’s true inspiration. GTA: III, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas came out in 2001, 2002, and 2003 respectively. 

A decade later with respect to each title’s original release date, all three original games were ported to the front-running mobile platforms of the then-current time—Android and iOS. That is to say, mobile versions of GTA: III, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas were launched in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively, 

The classic trilogy featured keen optimizations for mobile with a graphical upscale in some areas too. Fast-forward to 2021, GTA: The Trilogy made landfall for modern-day consoles and PC.

At the time of the title’s arrival, downgrading feedback started to pour in with everyone getting in the gaming community receiving their fair share of hurling insults toward the trilogy.

The major highlight of the condemnation was the lack of a proper reboot as the titles in the supposed “definitive” trilogy appeared to be half-baked.

Now that a previous worker of developer Grove Studio Games — the studio behind GTA: The Trilogy — has come forth with early footage of the game in question, things are starting to become clearer.

From the way we see it, the baseline established for the trio of GTA’s most classic games was taken straight from the mobile rereleases of the three titles. The developers thought building upon that outline already laid out by previous developers would be a nice and tight idea for the betterment of the trilogy, but guess what? 

That prospect was laid to rest quicker than a muckbanger devouring their favorite food.  Titled “GTA The Trilogy – ‘Car Paint’ Shader (Master Material) – UE4,” here’s one of the primary screenshots that Christopher Walch has posted to ArtStation. Notice the mobile control layout on the left side of the screen.

But, wait! There’s a lot more where that came from. The creator has uploaded these car shots from different angles to illustrate some of the earliest development sequences of GTA: The Trilogy, but, of course, with the mobile game notion fully in motion.  

Feel free to explore further and check out the dedicated ArtStation page yourself to find all of Walch’s uploaded screenshots. The erstwhile Grove Street Games 3D artist has a slew of different images posted on the platform, ranging from car paint comparisons in day and night settings to showcasing emergency vehicles. 

So, what is your opinion regarding the matter at hand? Did GTA: The Trilogy deserve the negative criticism? Tell us what you think in the comments section ahead.