The physical version of GTA Trilogy comes to Switch next month
The cartridge release was originally planned for December 2021
The delayed physical release of the Switch version of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition will be released on February 11, it’s been confirmed.
Nintendo revealed the new release date on its various regional Twitter accounts today.
The physical Switch cartridge was supposed to release alongside the other physical versions on December 7, but all versions were delayed by Rockstar.
Other systems got their physical releases 10 days later on December 17, but the Switch version remained delayed, with no confirmed release date until now.
The highly anticipated remaster collection released in November with a significant number of technical issues, as well as “unintended” documents within its game files such as unlicensed music and developer notes.
Rockstar subsequently apologised to fans for the state of the game and promised a series of updates to improve the title.
The Switch version came in for particular criticism, and VGC’s own review called it a “disappointment”.
“The frame rate is horrible, it’s so blurry you’ll think you’re actually playing on a CRT and the loading times are atrocious,” our reviewer wrote.
“If you were a massive Nintendo fan to the point where you’d never owned another console and this mess was your first impression of the three of the best, and most important video games of all time, you’d wonder what all the fuss was about.”
Despite its poor launch, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick claimed earlier this week that the collection has performed “great” since its release.
Zelnick’s comments were likely an attempt to placate shareholders who had reacted poorly to news of Take-Two’s Zynga deal – the biggest ever in the games industry until today’s announcement that Microsoft plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.