Will GTA 5 Get Cross-Play?

Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online have been hugely popular for Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two, but the companion games are missing one feature that has found its way into a lot of other multiplayer games: cross-play. If you're on an Xbox platform, you're playing with Xbox players, and the same is true for PlayStation. Unfortunately, that appears to still be the case for the new-gen versions on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, despite the addition of a transfer system for moving story data and GTA Online progress.

Why don't GTA 5 and GTA Online have cross-play?

As we mentioned, as of now, GTA Online does not feature cross-play. Unlike games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite, you can't play with someone on another platform. Initially, this likely had to do with what was standard when the game launched in late 2013. Cross-play was basically unheard of, with platforms locked down. That didn't really change until 2018, which was well after GTA Online had come to current-gen systems and PC.

Will GTA 5 or GTA Online ever get cross-play?

Rockstar has not announced this feature yet, but Grand Theft Auto 5 has new versions on Xbox Series X|S and PS5. Thus far, Rockstar hasn't enabled it, instead offering a save data transfer tool so players can move from one console family to another and take their story data and GTA Online progress with them. If you want to play with someone on PS5 and currently play on Xbox One, you could use this feature to move your data to PS5, though any purchased GTA$ you have will not transfer.

One encouraging bit of news regarding this came from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who stressed that his company doesn't just release simple ports, but instead tries to add something truly unique or meaningful when its games release on new platforms. Something like cross-play would certainly fit the bill, especially since it's now offering a standalone version of GTA Online that doesn't require Grand Theft Auto 5. If that happens, though, it certainly appears it will not be for a while.