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Grand Theft Auto (GTA) Online is one of the few popular games that's available to play on almost every known gaming device. Initially released back in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, GTA Online was a major success. A year later, the well-known title was ported to PCs and the next-generation consoles of that time.
In the years that followed, GTA Online took on a life of its own and became a behemoth of the industry with a massive player base. While many of today's games that are available on multiple platforms are beginning to include cross-play features, Rockstar Games has shown no intention of bringing the much-needed feature to their biggest source of income.
Why doesn't GTA Online have cross-play?
1) Difference in code
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To enable cross-platform availability in GTA Online, Rockstar Games will have to re-write an enormous amount of the game's code to integrate and run software from different console manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft.
Not only is this a time-consuming process that Rockstar would rather spend developing new content for the game, but the two major companies have also been reluctant to include cross-play on their devices due to competition.
2) Console wars
Sony and Microsoft are two of the biggest console manufacturers in the gaming industry. For several years, they have had a healthy rivalry, which has been incredibly useful for gamers on most occasions, as it has motivated either organization to one-up the other by releasing better hardware, extensive features, and console-exclusive video games.
When it comes to cross-platform gameplay, both Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox are built on fairly different architectures and have completely different licensing agreements with Rockstar Games.
3) Modding
When it comes to PC, Grand Theft Auto Online is riddled with a plethora of mods that significantly change a major portion of the game's code. The process of making it run in tandem with a vanilla copy of the game that's available on a PlayStation, Xbox, or a different PC itself is a coding mess in itself.
The problem lies not only on that front, but also in the fact that some of these mods give their users certain advantages, which would be unfair to gamers with a regular unmodded copy of the game in a competitive environment, like that of GTA Online.
4) Hardware limitations
Presently, Grand Theft Auto 5 and its Online variant are available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 3/4/5, and PC. The major point of difference between all of these platforms is not their name and release dates, but their hardware.
As of now, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 can only handle 16 players in an online lobby at a time. On the other hand, their successors can host up to 30 players. This pretty much sums up how numerous compatibility issues could occur if cross-play was enabled in the popular online multiplayer game.
5) It might be planned for GTA 6
Grand Theft Auto 6 will have to deliver on some extremely important checkpoints to be considered a major success seeing what GTA 5 has already achieved. Tez2, a popular Rockstar Games insider, recently revealed how the sequel's online version will reportedly host 32 players in an online lobby.
If true, this isn't a very big leap from the current game's online capacity of 30 players. To give it an additional edge, it's possible that Rockstar Games is planning to offer cross-platform capabilities with their upcoming title.
Why cross-play should be present in GTA Online
1) It's more enjoyable
The basic premise for the success of GTA Online is that players get to enjoy a fun and interactive game with their friends. It's quite common, however, that in a group, not everyone plays on the same platform.
With cross-play being enabled in popular games such as Rocket League and Call of Duty: Warzone, one gets to play with their friends despite not having the same gaming devices. This is exactly why fans have been demanding cross-platform compatibility from Rockstar Games for a long time now.
2) Rockstar Games is certainly capable
Based on their revenue and player count, Rockstar Games is definitely one of the biggest names in the gaming industry. Boasting some of the best technical experts in the field, it shouldn't be a tough task to integrate cross-play into their game, given that more and more titles are being released with this feature and that the technology for accomplishing such a feat is readily available now.
Sadly, it's quite likely that the cross-play feature may never be introduced to GTA Online. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if Rockstar Games will debut this highly anticipated feature in their next release.
