[UPDATE] The Rockstar Games Launcher went back online at 7:04 PM EST, or 1:04 AM CEST, well over a full day after it went down. Most of the games supported by the platform are now playable, but not Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. Rockstar said it's unavailable to play or purchase as they remove files 'unintentionally included in these versions'. The studio is likely referring to some unlicensed songs that dataminers found in the game's files.
The Rockstar Games Launcher is now online, but GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is unavailable to play or purchase as we remove files unintentionally included in these versions. We're sorry for the disruption and hope to have correct ones up soon. https://t.co/NiMNXUKCVh
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) November 13, 2021
[ORIGINAL STORY] The launch of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition has been far from smooth, particularly on PC, where the game is currently only available via the Rockstar Games Launcher.
The developer brought down the whole platform for maintenance yesterday at 2:23 PM EST, or 8:23 PM CEST, and it hasn't gone back up since.
Services for the Rockstar Games Launcher and supported titles are temporarily offline for maintenance. Services will return as soon as maintenance is completed.
There's no ETA on when it'll be restored, either. The Rockstar Support Twitter account relayed the following message about three hours ago:
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work on restoring services for the Rockstar Games Launcher and supported titles.
That means no one is able to play not only Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, but also highly popular titles like Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online, causing a significant uproar in the community. Likely in an attempt to prevent more customers to become dissatisfied with their brand new purchase, Rockstar has also temporarily removed the ability to purchase the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition from its own website.
Needless to say, this is the furthest thing from good publicity for the Rockstar Games Launcher. Released in September 2019 with San Andreas provided as a freebie, it was Rockstar's own attempt at grabbing a slice of the PC digital market. So far, it hasn't really been successful.
It's not just PC players that are angry at Rockstar right now. Even on next-generation consoles like Sony's PlayStation 5, early tests indicate performance issues, chiefly in Grand Theft Auto III.
We'll update this story whenever the Rockstar Games Launcher finally comes back online, hopefully with an explanation of what happened attached to it.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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