Rockstar has admitted to a bug in the new PC release of Grand Theft Auto V that is preventing some users from logging in to their much delayed purchase. There is a Rockstar support article detailing the problem, one involving the characters used in the users Windows account no less, with a draconian solution to the problem while waiting for the inevitable first patch for the AAA title.
According to the knowledge base article, the problem involves any Windows user account with characters other than the basic upper and lower case alphabet, and the numeric set. So any account with a "~" or a "_" will not work. And this is a problem as some accounts created by using a Microsoft account will have the first five characters of the email address, an underscore, and three zeros like this: usern_000 for username@outlook.com.
The only solution to the issue offered by Rockstar is to use a new Windows account to play the game, which is quite the step for most users. They even include a disclaimer that they are not positive it will be possible to move your saved progress, saying
We will update this support article with any new information as soon as we have it, including expected timing of a fix and whether you will be able to transfer progress on the newly-created Windows username over to your original Windows user account
This is causing quite the stir on their Support forums, as this game has had three official delays, with more rumoured launch windows missed before that, making this additional wait too much for some. On top of that, pre-orders have been going on for more than a year, adding to the frustration for those that bought early. To experienced gamers however, this is just one more in a long string of anticipated game releases marred by an initial broken experience, and a good warning against pre-ordering computer games.
Source: Rockstar | Image: Rockstar Games