We Should not Be Shocked GTA 6 Was Delayed, Rockstar Has a Lengthy Historical past of Doing Simply That

Take a deep breath and bear in mind: Delays are good.

OK, that assertion isn’t all the time true, however it normally is. Delayed tasks generally lead to dangerous video games ( you, Duke Nukem 3D), however far more typically taking extra time produces good things. Spending meticulous weeks to get one thing good issues in artwork, as does discovering the bravery to throw out concepts that appeared smart in idea however by no means panned out. Take into consideration what number of half-finished video games you’ve ever purchased and performed after which wished the writer had simply delayed till it was proper and prepared. Bought that thought in your head? OK, maintain onto it.

GTA 6 is delayed, and that’s good, as a result of it would in all probability be higher for the delay.

Rockstar has a protracted historical past of delaying video games to ensure they’re prepared for market, a strikingly constant little bit of self-discipline that locations them alongside Nintendo in an elite fraternity of studios that wait till the casserole is absolutely cooked earlier than serving. And boy, is it all the time scrumptious.

I’ve been taking part in GTA video games so long as they’ve been round, beginning with four-player PC GTA LAN events. I’ve performed probably the most obscure (London 1969), the perfect (GTA V), and the true finest (Chinatown Wars for DS). I’ve ransacked and crashed and shot my approach by these goofy, great worlds for many years. And fortunately, these video games are virtually all the time late… and never coincidentally, all the time nice. Right here’s each delay in GTA historical past (and a few Purple Useless too).

Grand Theft Auto III

Rockstar’s New York workplaces had been situated only some blocks from the World Commerce Heart, and Take Two didn’t waste any time briefly delaying GTA III following the September 11 assaults. . Advertising VP Terry Donovan introduced the delay solely days after the tragedy:

“Our resolution relies on two elements, firstly it has been just a little troublesome to get work performed in downtown Manhattan within the final week since fundamental communications infrastructure has been intermittent at finest, and secondly we felt {that a} full content material assessment of all our titles and the advertising supplies we use to symbolize them was completely crucial for us in mild of the horrifying occasion all of us witnessed in america final week.”

He continued: “As for Grand Theft Auto, because the sport is so large the assessment is not any quick course of. To this point we now have come throughout sure small contextual references that we had been not snug with, in addition to a few very uncommon gameplay cases that not felt applicable to us. We apologize to you and all of the folks ready for this sport to ship for the delays which have now ensued, however I am certain you’ll be able to perceive our reasoning. Relaxation assured the sport will probably be phenomenal…and you’ll count on it to hit cabinets in late October.”

Even with solely minimal content material adjustments, the delay was a smart resolution for Rockstar and gamers alike. Blasting cops and ambulances in Liberty Metropolis so quickly after the violent deaths of hundreds wouldn’t have been interesting to anyone.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

The co-prize for shortest delay is shared between Vice Metropolis and San Andreas. Again within the olden days earlier than downloadable sport shops and day-one patches, producers guessed forward of time simply how a lot of a bodily product they’d want to supply for a given shelf date, and generally they guessed flawed. Rockstar delayed Vice Metropolis by seven days to present them time to fabricate extra discs (and thus meet the large day-one demand for a GTA III follow-up).

San Andreas for PS2 additionally hit streets per week later than deliberate, a strategic resolution designed to present the dev group just a few additional days to shine their two-year mission.

Each Superstar in GTA: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis Tales and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Okay, so actual discuss: The GTA handheld video games go exhausting… exhausting sufficient that it’s value dusting off your historic PlayStation Moveable or DS to strive them. GTA’s glorious forays onto portables normally arrive on time, however Vice Metropolis Tales for PSP was delayed for 2 weeks in North America, and longer in elements of Europe.

The perfect GTA of all of them (struggle me!) didn’t arrive exactly on time. The extremely artistic and complex DS gamechit cabinets two months later than anticipated. When it did lastly arrive, it blew the socks off of critics, and it’s one in all gaming’s nice tragedies that no person purchased it… we may be taking part in Chinatown Wars 3 on our new Change 2s proper now if that they had.

Grand Theft Auto IV

After GTA III modified the panorama of video video games, anticipation for GTA IV was palpable. With clunky RenderWare left behind and a model new console technology to work with, Rockstar Leeds was aiming for the stratosphere. Bringing their imaginative and prescient to actuality in the end demanded a number of months of delay.

As Rockstar’s Sam Hause defined, “The brand new consoles [PS3 and 360] are permitting us to create the Grand Theft Auto sport we all the time dreamed about. Each side of the sport and its design has been utterly reworked. The sport is big and is pushing the {hardware} platforms to their absolute limits. The highest engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working carefully with the group in Edinburgh proper now, serving to us to completely leverage the facility of each platforms. As all the time, our aim is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the sport’s followers, and to create the final word excessive definition online game expertise.”

Grand Theft Auto V

The most important console sport of all time was a very long time coming. GTA V lastly landed in September 2013, however was initially anticipated to reach within the spring of that very same yr. However in late January 2013, Rockstar launched the next message:

“We all know that is about 4 months later than initially deliberate and we all know that this quick delay will come as a disappointment to a lot of you, however, belief us, will probably be value the additional time. GTAV is a massively bold and sophisticated sport and it merely wants just a little extra polish to be of the usual we and, extra importantly, you require. ‘To all Grand Theft Auto followers, please settle for our apologies for the delay, and our promise that all the group right here is working very exhausting to make the sport all it may be. We’re doing all we will to assist guarantee it would meet if not exceed your expectations come September – we thanks on your assist and persistence.’”

They weren’t flawed. GTA V went on to develop into probably the most profitable console sport of all time, and alongside RDR2, it’s a real jewel in Rockstar’s crown.

Purple Useless Redemption 2

Talking of RDR2… it’s not part of the GTA collection, however it’s Rockstar’s finest sport and I really like speaking about it. Consistent with the custom of Rockstar quality-based delays, we’re including a little bit of an appendix by mentioning Purple Useless Redemption 2, which was delayed twice, first in spring 2017 for high quality assurance functions. The second delay got here in February 2018, pushing RDR2 to late October. The assertion from Rockstar defined that, once more, this was a top quality challenge.

“We’re excited to announce that Purple Useless Redemption 2 will probably be launched on October twenty sixth 2018. We apologize to everybody dissatisfied by this delay. Whereas we had hoped to have the sport out sooner, we require just a little additional time for polish.

“We sincerely thanks on your persistence and hope that once you get to play the sport, you’ll agree the wait may have been value it. Within the meantime, please try these screenshots from the sport. We look ahead to sharing much more info with you within the coming weeks.”

That delay, like all of the others right here, labored out swimmingly, delivering a real murals nonetheless unparalleled in journey gaming.

So buddies, don’t despair. GTA 6 will come, and when it comes, it would virtually actually be very, superb. See you in Vice Metropolis.

Jared Petty is a former IGN editor who likes writing about how great and foolish video video games are. You’ll find him at Bluesky as pettycommajared.