this is not a "Luka needs to get in shape" game. this is a "the mavericks have to figure out how to make sure Luka doesn't have to do everything" game.
We released gta San Andreas 20 years ago. October 26, 2004.
Game releases were different back then.
It took 6 weeks for the DVDs to be produced, boxed and distributed. Patches over the internet were not yet a thing.
For us, all of the stress had happened at the cut-off point, 6 weeks prior. No big issues had come up.
Most devs had taken a holiday and we were already thinking about our next project.
Digital distribution didn’t exist yet. Games were typically released on a Tuesday/Wednesday in the US and Fridays in the UK. Same for SA.
The internet was crap and apart from a couple of trailers, gamers didn’t know too much about the game.
For big games, stores would open at Midnight before release day so that pre-orders could be picked up.
I only later found out, the publisher has to pay the stores to make these late openings happen.
I went to the biggest store near the R*North offices, which was HMV on Princess Street, Edinburgh. Even though it was a drizzly night, the line meandered all through the store and spilled out onto the street.
It was mind-blowing to see all those people so excited, going home to play the game all through the night.