Take a deep breath and remember one sentence: Good food is not afraid of being late.
Well, this statement is not always correct, but it usually holds true. Sometimes delaying the development cycle can still result in poor games (referring to you, Duke of Doom 3D), but in many cases, extending the development cycle can lead to better quality works. As an art creation, it is very important to spend time carefully polishing details, and the courage to give up those seemingly clever but actually impractical concepts is equally crucial.
Think back, how many semi-finished games have you bought and played? How many times would you rather have the issuer postpone? Do you remember that disappointment? Okay, please remember this feeling.
GTA6 has been postponed again, but this is a good thing because we will be able to play a more complete game by then.
In the history of Rockstar, the company has repeatedly chosen to skip tickets in order to ensure game quality. This dedication to quality control is commendable in the gaming industry, making them one of the few top developers in the industry, like Nintendo, willing to work slowly and wait until the dishes are cooked before serving them. And it has been proven that they always end up serving a delicious delicacy.
I have been playing GTA since the first PC version and can be considered a die hard fan of GTA. From the most obscure “Guilty London 1969”, to the series’ best “GTA 5”, to the “True Series Best” “Bloody Chinatown”, I have fallen behind none of them. For over twenty years, I have robbed, raced, and strafed in these absurd and exciting worlds, spending many happy moments. These games are almost all off the charts, but they are also all masterpieces – and these two things are related. The following is the history of ticket skipping in the GTA series (as well as some parts of Red Dead Redemption).
《GTA 3》
Rockstar’s New York branch is only a few blocks away from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. After the 9/11 attacks, publisher Take Two immediately decided to postpone the release of GTA 3. A few days later, Terry Donovan, Vice President of Marketing at Take Two, issued a notice of extension:
Our decision is based on two factors. Firstly, the communication infrastructure in Manhattan has been very unstable over the past week, making it difficult to operate normally. Secondly, given the tragedy we witnessed in the United States last week, we believe it is necessary to review all of our games and their promotional materials
He continued, ‘As for GTA, due to its large size, the review process takes a long time.’. So far, we have discovered some details that we believe are no longer appropriate, as well as a very small number of game scenes that we consider inappropriate. We sincerely apologize to all players who are looking forward to the game’s release for this delay, but I believe everyone can understand. Don’t worry, this game will be excellent… You can look forward to playing it in late October. ”
Although only a small amount of content has been modified, this delay is a wise move for both Rockstar and the players. If we were to attack police cars and ambulances in Liberty City while thousands of corpses are still fresh, it would indeed be inappropriate.
GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas
Sin City “and” San Andreas “are joint winners of the” Shortest Delay Award “. In the era before the popularity of digital games and first day patches, manufacturers needed to estimate the initial sales volume in advance to determine how many discs to produce, and estimation errors were inevitable. As a sequel to GTA 3, the initial demand for “Vice City” far exceeded the distributor’s expectations. Therefore, in order to produce more discs and fill the supply gap, Rockstar postponed “Vice City” by 7 days.
San Andreas on PS2 has also been delayed by one week, in order to provide the development team with an additional few days to polish this game that has only been under development for two years.
GTA Vice City Legends and GTA Bloody Chinatown
To be honest, the handheld games GTA are all top-notch and worth playing again for PSP and NDS in 2025.
The handheld game of GTA is usually released on schedule, but the PSP game “Vice City Legend” was delayed by two weeks in North America and even delayed for a longer period of time in some parts of Europe.
And the best work in the series, ‘Bloody Chinatown’ (disputed), was not released on time. This highly creative and ingeniously designed NDS game was released two months later than originally planned. After its release, it received a lot of praise from the critics. Unfortunately, in the end, it also became a game that was neither popular nor popular… This is truly a great regret in the history of gaming. If the sales could have been better, maybe we could have played ‘Bloody Chinatown 3’ on Switch 2 now.
《GTA 4》
After GTA 3 changed the game industry landscape, people have high expectations for GTA 4. And Rockstar Leeds Studio has also set a high goal, abandoning the outdated RenderWare engine and developing specifically for the new generation of console platforms. However, in order to turn their vision into reality, they ultimately chose to postpone it for a few months. (Originally scheduled to be released on October 16, 2007, it was ultimately postponed to April 29, 2008.)
Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser explained at the time that the new generation consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360) allowed us to create the GTA experience we’ve always dreamed of. Every aspect and design of this work has been refreshed. The game has a huge volume and almost squeezes out all the performance of the hardware platform. Top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with our Edinburgh team to help us fully tap into the performance potential of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass fans’ wildest imaginations and create the ultimate high-definition gaming experience. ”
《GTA 5》
As the most successful console game in history, GTA 5 can be said to have emerged after much anticipation. GTA 5 was ultimately released in September 2013, but the initial plan was to release it in the spring of 2013. But at the end of January 2013, Rockstar issued the following statement:
We are well aware that this is about 4 months later than the original plan, and we know that this brief delay will disappoint many players, but please believe us that the wait is worth it. GTA 5 is a highly ambitious and complex game, and in order to ensure that it meets our expectations, and more importantly, to meet everyone’s expectations, we need more time to polish it. We sincerely apologize to all GTA fans and assure everyone that our team is working hard to develop and strive to polish the game to its most perfect state. We are making every effort to ensure that it meets, and even exceeds, everyone’s expectations when it is released in September – thank you for your support and patience. ”
The fact proves that what they said is true. GTA 5 later became the most successful console game of all time, along with Red Dead Redemption 2, becoming the most dazzling jewel in Rockstar’s crown.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Speaking of Red Dead Redemption 2, although it does not belong to the GTA series, it is my favorite Rockstar game and I also enjoy discussing it. Since we’re talking about Rockstar’s tradition of delaying to ensure quality, let’s also mention Red Dead Redemption 2.
This game has been delayed twice, the first time in May 2017 to ensure quality. The second time was in February 2018, with the release date postponed to October of the same year. Rockstar stated in a statement that this delay is still to ensure quality:
We are excited to announce that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released on October 26, 2018. We apologize to all players who have been disappointed by this delay. Please believe that we, like you, hope the game can be released as soon as possible, but we need more time to polish it.
We sincerely appreciate your patience and hope that when you start playing this game, you will feel that the wait is worth it. Meanwhile, please take a look at the screenshots from these games. We look forward to sharing more information with you in the coming weeks. ”
And just like the other examples mentioned earlier, this wait was still worth it. In the end, we obtained an unparalleled masterpiece of art that no game has been able to shake its position in adventure games to this day.
So friends, please don’t be sad. GTA 6 will come sooner or later, and on the day it finally comes out, it will almost certainly be a very, very excellent game. See you in Sin City.
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