Please, No More ‘Grand Theft Auto V’

Yesterday’s PlayStation 5 showcase was a powerhouse of game reveals. Insomniac is working on a Wolverine game and Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok premiered its first trailer, and Rockstar announced it’s re-releasing Grand Theft Auto V. Again. Of all the 18 trailers revealed during the showcase only one has more downvotes than upvotes on YouTube and it’s Grand Theft Auto V. Twitch streamer Lord Balvin accurately captured the mood of the community.

“They can’t keep getting away with this,” Balvin said in his video reaction as the words “Welcome back to Los Santos” flashed on the screen. “No! No! I don’t wanna go back. I don’t wanna go back anymore, I’m done!”

Publisher Rockstar Games said that the new GTA V will have enhanced graphics and gameplay. The 10 year old game looked incredible when it was released on the Xbox 360. The PC release upgraded those graphics and, since then, a steady stream of updates and mods have pushed Rockstar’s open world sandbox to the limits of its engine.

With this re-released, the game officially spans three console generations. It’s not that it’s a bad trailer or anything. It’s a good trailer for a good game. It’s just that Rockstar has been releasing GTA V trailers for a whole decade (the first trailer came out November 2011). Even confirmation of the rumored remaster of GTA III, IV, and San Andreas would have been met with more excitement than this.

Remasters and re-releases aren’t new, especially in this era of video games. Bethesda will soon release a 10th anniversary edition of Skyrim that includes some graphical enhancements and a fishing minigame. The difference is that Bethesda has published more than 20 games since Skyrim came out, including two Fallout games and both entries in the Evil Within franchise.

Since GTA V, Rockstar Games has put out Red Dead Redemption 2 and increasingly minor enhancements, upgrades, and expansions to GTA V and GTA Online. Bethesda fans have dozens of worlds to explore that scratch the same itch as Skyrim. Rockstar fans have one option—go back to Los Santos. Again.