It shouldn’t be this hard to play GTA Online with friends

Lord help me, but I’ve recently decided to get back into GTA Online. I played it for hundreds of hours before I switched focus to Red Dead Online. Not getting blown up by some twat on an Oppressor every time I tried to resupply a business really helped keep my blood pressure in check. 

But, Red Dead Online is dead, and GTA Online now allows you to run your businesses in private lobbies, so it should be the perfect time to get back into it all. Why then, does Rockstar make it so damn hard to play with your friends?

I popped my disc into my PS5 on my lunch break so that I could play by the time I was finished up at work. The data was copying over, updates were downloading, all was well. But when the clock hit five and I tried to load up the online portion of the game, I was told to download the latest version. Turns out I didn’t have enough hard drive space and the earlier download had failed, that’s my bad. I cleared up some space and decided I’d play after dinner.

Game installed, update downloaded, I hopped into a party with my bud and awaited a game invite, except it never came. He’s playing the PS5 version and I’m still using my PS4 copy. Turns out, the highest-grossing piece of media ever doesn’t have any budget allocated for enabling cross-gen play. I can see why it earns Rockstar so much money, because upgrading to the latest version cost me £17.99. “I’ve bought this game for three console generations on the trot, this is getting a bit silly now,” I thought grumpily.

GTA Online was finally available to play when I got back from the cinema after part one of my Barbenheimer experience. This Barbie is ready to commit organized crime. We were supposed to be joined by some of my fine colleagues here at the esteemed website DotEsports.com, but would you believe it, while you can import your character from PS4 to PS5, you can’t bring a character over from PC or Xbox? You can’t even play cross-gen, so full cross-play is obviously off the table, but you’d think Rockstar would allow people to transfer their characters over. It’s all linked to the Social Club anyway, so it’s absurd this can’t be done.

I’m not exaggerating when I write that this game is the highest-grossing piece of media ever made. Grand Theft Auto 5 has made more money than any, film, TV show, or game to ever exist. It is Rockstar’s greatest-ever cash cow, and yet it keeps milking us dry just to eek a few more bucks out of us. 

The only conceivable reason GTA 5 doesn’t now have cross-play and cross-progression is Rockstar’s insatiable greed. Why let PS4 players jump into lobbies with PS5 owners for free when you can charge them £17.99 for the privilege? Why let my colleagues on PC port their characters to their consoles when they can entice them with Shark cards so they can re-buy all the businesses they used to have? 

Although I’m happy I can now avoid playing in lobbies filled with Oppressors, this disgusting corporate cash grabbing is making my blood boil instead.