There has been speculation about a rumoured GTA Trilogy – a collection that contains the classic PS2 trilogy of GTA titles including Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – since Take-Two hinted at three new “remasters” or “remakes” back in its Q1 2022 earnings call.

• READ MORE: ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions delayed to March 2022

Back then, the mega-publisher and owner of Rockstar Games noted that the studio is working on three unannounced “iterations of previously released titles” – though it’s been coy about saying exactly what they are. The company may have shown its hand early (before all the leaks and information that you’re going to see listed in detail below) by targeting a fan project that was reverse-engineering Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City with a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown earlier this year. That move got the rumour mill started up nice and early, sparking speculation that remakes of the three classic games could potentially be in the works.

Since then, much more information has come to light about the supposed trilogy thanks to a variety of sources: whether it’s the Korean ratings board, or Rockstar’s very own launcher, these Unreal Engine remasters are now one of gaming’s-worst kept secrets. Read on below to learn more about Rockstar’s unannounced trilogy that’s supposedly coming to modern hardware soon.

GTA Trilogy – Definitive Edition release date, platforms and price

The very first suggestion we heard about the re-release of the games was that the three classic GTA games was from Kotaku, who noted that the games would appear across Google Stadia, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices – making good use of how platform agnostic Unreal Engine is, then.

Then, in early October 2021, Rockstar finally announced Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and the Rockstar Games Launcher on PC (no word yet on whether it’ll come to Steam or Epic Games Store).

The compilation will also come to iOS and Android in the first half of 2022.

At the time of writing, it’s unclear whether Rockstar would sell the games independently, or whether they’d rather go in for a package deal only. There’s currently no hint as to what price point either the individual titles or the collected trilogy would launch at.

Price

In the middle of October, retailer Base.com opened pre-orders for The Definitive Edition, with a premium price tag listed at $70 / £70 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The retailer also has last-gen versions up at just over £50.

Without a formal update from Rockstar, it’s hard to say how accurate these listings are, but they track with the current prices for triple-A games from major publishers. It also lines up with what Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, has previously said regarding price. In comments earlier in 2021, the corporation said it’s willing to charge consumers on new-gen machines $70 for new games. And it’s something the company has said again and again, too.

Release date

When is the GTA Trilogy release date? In terms of a solid date, it’s hard to say: there are two feasible options. Firstly, it stands to reason that the trilogy was intended to tie in with GTA 5‘s PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S release on November 11, 2021? If so, the company is leaving it very late to formally announce the date.

Alternatively, we may see Rockstar and Take-Two eager to put something out in time for the Holiday 2021 period, and we may get a stealth drop of the trilogy sometime soon as a result of that. It’s hard to say right now, and Rockstar and Take-Two are both being very quiet on the matter.

As per PPE, last-gen versions of the collection will be out on shelves by Christmas, with other boxed versions of the game landing in 2022 (hinting that a digital release may come sooner).

The Polish publication’s sources state that the PS4, Xbox One and Switch versions of the compilation will release physically on December 7, with new-gen versions not coming until later. This has not been confirmed by the developer or publisher at the time of writing, though.

GTA Trilogy – Achievements

Part of the big data dump that was found by Rockstar Intel’s @videotech_ uncovered a raft of achievements for the unannounced games that seem to disclose quite a lot of changes to the three games.

If you’re interested, we know how many new trophies/achievements each game has received individually. They are:

GTA III – 15 new additions
GTA Vice City – 9 new additions
GTA San Andreas – 15 new additions

The Vice City icons suggest that bicycles will be added to the remaster of the 2002 game (they were added in 2004’s San Andreas, for what it’s worth). There’s also reference to Bigfoot in the San Andreas icons, too, perhaps insinuating that the lumbering cryptid will actually make it into this game after his absence was the subject of much speculation when the game originally came out.

GTA Trilogy – Unreal Engine and development

The decoded text uncovered via Rockstar Launcher also contains multiple references to “Unreal”, which suggests that all three games have been remastered with Unreal Engine. Originally, the PS2-era GTA games were developed with a middleware engine called Renderware, while later instalments from GTA 4 onwards have used Rockstar’s proprietary RAGE engine.

Graphics and controls

Some of the investigators over at GTA Forums managed to glean some more information from the Rockstar website that hasn’t yet been included in the official correspondence from the developer. It hints that we may get something of a graphical overhaul on the game, and that we’ll also see controls inspired by GTA V – so it’ll be seamless switching from the newer titles to the legacy remasters.

“Three iconic cities, three epic stories,” reads the unreleased blurb. “Play the genre-defining classics of the original Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas updated for a new generation, now with across-the-board enhancements including brilliant new lighting and environmental upgrades, high-resolution textures, increased draw distances, Grand Theft Auto 5-style controls and targeting, and much more, bringing these beloved worlds to life with all new levels of detail.”

Development

If the remasters are indeed in development by Rockstar Dundee (formerly known as Ruffian Games), it would stand to reason that Take-Two would use an external engine when it comes to ease and speed of development. Given Ruffian has credits on making Halo: The Master Chief Collection all shiny and worthwhile on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, it stands to reason they (may) have been tapped up to work on the GTA Trilogy.