Patience is a virtue but Rockstar is pushing it a bit far

Mar 2, 2015 14:32 GMT  ·  By

Grand Theft Auto 5 has been delayed yet again on the PC platform, as Rockstar Games confirmed last week that the long-awaited title is now set to launch in April onto computers, one year and a half after it rolled out onto the PS3 and Xbox 360.

As you can imagine, this hasn't exactly led to the best of reactions from the community, despite a few attempts at compensation from Rockstar. However, it does bring into the question the delays in the video game industry and how patience can be rewarded by developers and publishers.

First up, let's take a look at the current state of GTA 5

Grand Theft Auto 5 launched back in September for the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms. However, while the title brought forth a huge single-player story campaign that certainly allowed for many hours of entertainment, one of its biggest aspects, the GTA Online multiplayer, wasn't even a part of that certain package.

Instead, Rockstar delayed that multiplayer experience until the month of October, releasing as a free update. The motivation was that extra time was needed to ensure that it handled well, that it performed as intended, and of course, that players had time to explore the story and come to grips with the mechanics.

However, on launch day the multiplayer mode suffered from server problems, glitches, bugs, exploits, and all sorts of other issues, effectively confirming that the delay had very little impact on its quality. After many updates and patches, things got smoothed over and most things worked as intended.

It's also worth mentioning that the multiplayer mode also had a major aspect missing, as online heists were promised but never delivered. Rockstar remained silent on the whole matter at that time.

In the summer of 2014, Rockstar confirmed what many had speculated: GTA 5 is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One. A tentative fall release period was given, and the online heists just got a vague statement that they're still coming.

During the actual fall period, Rockstar announced that GTA 5 is still coming to PS4 and Xbox One, but that the PC edition needs extra development time. In November, the title appeared on the new consoles with features like first-person view and an increased multiplayer capacity. Online heists were still missing.

GTA 5 first got a January release date, then a March one, and now the latest time frame given says that the title will appear on the PC on April 14, worldwide. Meanwhile, online heists were promised for the first major update after the November debut of the game on the new consoles. That didn't happen. Then they were set to appear in early 2015, and now they've been given an exact release date of March 10.

More delays might still appear

Given Rockstar's already apparent track record regarding release dates, it's not out of the question that the multiplayer missions might be delayed once again.

However, coming back to PC users, their patience is understandably running a bit thin. They're paying full price for a game that initially came out in 2013. Yes, it has extra features, including exclusive graphics options, but it doesn't excuse the huge delay.

Rockstar has sold tens of millions of GTA 5 copies so far and has many different teams around the world, not to mention the support of Take-Two Interactive, its publishing partner. Extra resources could have led to a speedier release or at least a lower price for PC users, or at least more rewards. Yes, the studio is offering extra in-game cash for the multiplayer mode to all those who pre-ordered the game on PC, but it's not enough.

Grand Theft Auto 5 PC screenshots (7 Images)

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