Grand Theft Auto 5 has been a multiplatform juggernaut, consistently jumping across systems and generations, ultimately blanketing the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. A glaring omission in the past few years was Nintendo's record breaking hybrid handheld console, the Switch. Now, finally through the magic of mods, GTA V runs on the Switch too.
Sure, it isn't official, and it doesn't run particularly well, but it does run. The team behind the achievement is Superstar South, who have made attempts to mod GTA 5 on the Switch in lieu of the real port — however, in the past they met little success, with the game crashing before the game would load.
Superstar South used the source code that leaked late last year and caused a big uproar among the community to support their efforts. This comes off as more than a little bit ironic, because tied to this leak was also the revelation that a Switch port wasn't even ever planned by Rockstar.
In the latest footage posted by the developers, they captured actual gameplay during the North Yankton prologue mission of the GTA 5 story mode. It's fairly choppy, but Superstar South noted that the recording isn't as smooth as the actual gameplay output was.
Fans have been asking for an official Nintendo Switch port of Grand Theft Auto V for years, and many were convinced that something other than technical limitations is holding it back — after all, GTA 5 first launched in 2013, with much more recent and graphically demanding games making the jump to the hybrid handheld console.
With other Rockstar titles, many GTA games among them, available on the Switch, it also wasn't an issue between the developer and Nintendo. The main theory is that while some version of GTA 5 could run on the Switch, it wouldn't be the Enhanced Edition or even the very latest versions running on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S — Rockstar might not want to release what is perceived as a "downgrade.
The modded unofficial port that's been recorded as running on a non-overclocked Switch in handheld mode definitely has compromised performance, but this is also the work of modders who do not have the resources, support and infrastructure a massive company like Rockstar would have — and considering the immense popularity of the Switch, there would definitely be money to be made there.
