We answer the question and discuss all the reasons behind GTA Online's lack of crossplay.
Are you a fan of GTA Online, eagerly waiting to play with your friends across different gaming platforms? You're not alone. Many players have been wondering if GTA Online, the multiplayer component of GTA 5, supports crossplay functionality.
GTA 5 and GTA Online do not have crossplay functionality as of yet.
Whether this is a good or bad thing is debatable. In certain directions, so to speak, crossplay is impossible. Feature parity between the Enhanced Edition (i.e. PS4, Xbox One and PC versions) and the launch version (on PS3 and Xbox 360) never existed, and for many years now the current-generation consoles and PC have received updates not released on PS3 and Xbox 360.
Therefore it would be functionally impossible for PS3 and PS4 players, or Xbox 360 and Xbox One players to play together.
Crossplay between current systems is possible, however many players argue that crossplay involving PC would cause more issues than benefits. The PS4 and Xbox One versions of GTA Online barely see any hacks or cheating, due to it being infinitely harder to pull off on the newer consoles. On PC though, despite Rockstar's best efforts and recent successes in quelling cheating, there are still a lot of hackers around.
Enabling crossplay would simply expose PS4 and Xbox One players to PC hackers as well, making these platforms less safe.
As for crossplay between PS4 and Xbox One players, there aren't any obstacles, but so far Rockstar hasn't decided that developing the feature is worth the trouble. On a programming level, implementing crossplay isn't a simple task, especially after the fact. When you are developing a game from the ground up, it's simpler — but still not easy — to bake crossplay into the code from the get-go.
And it's not like the game suffers from a shortage of players on any platform, such that a boost from other platforms is required. GTA Online is more popular than ever, and only growing. You won't have trouble finding other players on either Xbox One or PS4.
For the reasons outlined above, the next-gen version of GTA Online on PS5 and Xbox Series X doesn't support crossplay either. PS5 players can only play with other PS5 players, and Xbox Series X|S players can only join other Xbox Series X|S players online.
GTA Online also definitely will not support crossplay between Xbox Series and older Xbox consoles, nor the PS5 and older PlayStation consoles. This is because Rockstar Games already announced that the latest-gen ports will receive exclusive DLC only available on those consoles, as well as PC.
Technically, thanks to backwards compatibility though, you can play the PS4 version of GTA 5 on a PS5, and the Xbox One version on an Xbox Series X, meaning those games will connect to current-gen GTA Online servers... but that's not really crossplay, now, is it?
It is highly unlikely that we will get a crossplay feature implemented for GTA Online, considering how far into the life cycle of the game we are. GTA Online is more than a decade old, and there is no reason for Rockstar to work on implementing a feature that it would be much better to try and include in GTA 6.
Most multiplayer games on the market have their own servers for online players. However, GTA Online functions through a peer-to-peer network. This means that each platform has its own designated server that it operates on independently. All platforms, including the new-gen consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, have their own servers. This makes it impossible for players from different platforms to play with each other.
Steam Deck allows players to play GTA Online with their friends on PC. This is possible because the games on the Steam Deck are running directly from Steam's PC store.
The games listed on Steam are primarily developed for PC, including GTA 5 and GTA Online. This allows Rockstar to integrate the Steam Deck "version" of GTA Online with PC players. This is the closest Rockstar has got to implementing a "crossplay" feature.
