Rockstar Games' latest anti-cheat update for Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online isn't going as well as planned.
Roughly a decade after GTA Online's initial launch, Rockstar has just introduced BattleEye, a robust software decided to prevent hackers from abusing the game. It's always a good idea to protect the integrity of one of the most popular and profitable properties on the market, which is exactly what Rockstar is doing. But it appears it has come at the expense of those who play GTA Online on a desktop using a Linux OS, including the entirety of the Steam Deck playerbase.
As revealed by several users, anyone on a Linux-based machine can't play GTA Online as of the moment and it appears that neither Rockstar nor Steam know what's happening.
In a post shared by u/realelpixion, it's revealed that whenever you try to report the matter to Rockstar, the long-time GTA developers will redirect you to ask Valve or Steam, who then say that this is a matter for Rockstar.
Some on social media quickly jumped on the hate bandwagon and called out the developers for basically "tanking" GTA Online's playerbase on Steam. However, a quick look on SteamDB will show you that GTA Online's playerbase naturally goes up and down, so there isn't really any relationship between the latest GTA Online update and the perceived playercount drop.
Nevertheless, it's still important for Rockstar to address this issue. Otherwise, it risks alienating players who have so far enjoyed logging into Los Santos on their portable handhelds before the BattleEye update completely took the option away from them.
The good news is that Rockstar and Valve appear to have made peace with each other and are actively looking for a proper solution.
According to a separate post on Reddit by u/notjordansime, the two companies are now working closely to get to the root of the problem. As a bonus, Steam's customer support replied that GTA Online is currently on sale, which it is, as part of the game's 11th anniversary.
In the meantime, some modders have given up support for GTA Online following the release of BattleEye, including Kiddion's Modest Menu, a walking cheat code that lets players get the weapon they want on a whim with maxed out ammo.
