Grand Theft Auto 5 may have been released all the way back in 2013, but it still manages to break sales records and appear at the top of sales charts to this day. However, with the next-generation of consoles coming soon, what are GTA 5's future prospects?
Originally, both Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Sony's PlayStation 5 were scheduled to launch sometime late 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the gaming industry has pushed things back to 2021. Nonetheless, we now know a great deal about both upcoming consoles — including their stance on backwards compatibility.
Of the two, this is a lot easier to talk about in certain terms, since Microsoft has revealed that the Series X will be fully backwards compatible — all the way to the original Xbox. This means you'll be able to play GTA 5 on the new platform right out of the box.
In the past few years it has become clear just how strongly gamers feel about backwards compatibility, which became a major selling point for the Xbox One in its later years. The Xbox Series X has drawn some criticism for simply being a "more restrictive gaming PC", especially due to the manufacturer's attempt to unify gaming on Xbox and Windows by essentially relinquishing exclusives. Backwards Compatibility, however, still gives the console a purpose, so to speak.
Microsoft is clearly focusing on backwards compatibility a great deal, since not only will older games released for previous generations be playable on the Xbox Series X, but these titles will get graphics and performance upgrades without the need for remastering by the developers. This process likely involves a lot of upscaling and AI algorithms to increase texture resolution and lighting effects.
While Rockstar released actual remasters of the original Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, it's highly unlikely that the game would get an official, dedicated re-release on yet another generation. As such, Microsoft's dedication to backwards compatibility is its best chance at longevity.
You'll absolutely be able to play GTA 5 on Xbox Series X, and it might even provide a more definitive experience than the Xbox One version.
This question is a little more tricky, since Sony has been a lot more secretive about their upcoming console and have really given us no concrete details about backwards compatibility.
Mark Cerny, chief architect of the PS5, initially mistakenly said that only most of the 100 best selling PS4 titles will be made backwards compatible. Following public outcry, Sony later corrected that to "most PS4 games".
While the oddly specific first criterium would still leave us quite confident about GTA 5 falling into the pool of selected games, this is hardly a definitive yes, especially with the corrective statement in tow. If GTA 5 does become backwards compatible on the PS5, it might benefit from PSVR.
Microsoft isn't thinking about VR when it comes to the Series X for now, so this would be Sony's riposte to the whole "automatic-improvement" pledge their competitors have made. For now, fans who want to experience the game in VR can only rely on PC mods.
We imagine that the result of GTA 5 not being available on PS5 would be pretty ugly for the console. This would also depend on how the game's sales figures look like when the new consoles launch, but considering that over the past few years GTA 5 has only sold more, instead of declining, we don't think it will drop off that quick.
A game of this magnitude isn't one you just brush off without feeling some hurt.
Since we are speaking entirely in hypotheticals, it is hard to answer which will be the ideal platform for GTA 5. On the one hand, we don't even know if it will be available on PS5, and if yes, what kind of enhancements — if any — backwards compatible games will get on the platform.
Even if we operate on the assumption that yes, the PS4 version of GTA 5 will be playable on PS5, we're still looking at the Series X as the ideal choice. Guaranteed compatibility with a "remaster" out of the box is hard to beat. We might be swayed if GTA 5 was PSVR compatible on PS5, but there's no indication to believe that yet.
