Rockstar put out a new game launcher on PC that plays host to their games, and sweetened the deal with a free game at launch.
The Rockstar Games Launcher sports the expected features of a first-party launcher, including cloud saves, automatic updates, and the ability to shop for games, old and new. The selection of Rockstar Games titles available as of day one leans more towards old, as it consists of Grand Theft Auto 5, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, L.A. Noire: Complete Edition, Bully: Scholarship Edition, and Max Payne 3: Complete Edition. Not that Rockstar’s put out much in the past five years…
As a bonus for early adopters, downloading the Launcher will grant them a free copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Also, those who already own copies of Grand Theft Auto 5 or Max Payne 3 on PC will use the Launcher to access them from now on, with all existing data intact.
It might seem strange to launch a launcher without a new game to hype it up, but it’s possible that it might have been made in anticipation of such a killer app. Hints found buried in source code have suggested that the long-awaited PC port of Red Dead Redemption 2 will be coming eventually, which would give the Launcher quite the exclusive. Also worth noting is the fact that Grand Theft Auto 5, despite releasing on PC in 2015, has maintained a consistent presence on the platform through its multiplayer component, Grand Theft Auto Online.
Rockstar may not have a ton of games to sell, but they probably have all the right ones. We’ll have to see how this endeavour goes and what comes to the Rockstar Games Launcher in the future, but for now, it seems like a useful tool for Rockstar fans.