Summary
A Nintendo Switch port ofGrand Theft Auto 5was likely never in active development, an analysis of the game’s source code suggests. The fullGTA 5source code leaked onlinein late December, together with a number of other Rockstar files.
September 17 marked the tenth anniversary ofGTA 5’s widely acclaimed release.Rumors of aGTA 5Switch porthave been circulating the industry for nearly as long, since before Nintendo’s hybrid console even hit the market in early 2017. The fact that some of Rockstar’s other ambitious open-world games such asL.A. NoireandRed Dead Redemptionmade their way to the Switch over the years inspired additional hope among the fandom that the fifth mainline entry in theGrand Theft Autoseries would eventually follow suit.
Be that as it may, a Switch port ofGTA 5was seemingly never in development. That’s according to a newly shared analysis of the game’s source code conducted by Reddit user RafaelSwi, who discovered that the entireGTA 5codebase contains just two references to the Nintendo Switch, and only a couple more mentions of the console’s NX64 codename. And while that observation alone might suggest Rockstar once had plans to bring the game to the Switch, all of the discovered references appear to be tied to utility functions and objects that in no way indicateGrand Theft Auto 5was ever close to running on the ARM system-on-chip architecture utilized by the Nvidia Tegra X1 powering the Switch.
Any GTA 5 Switch Port Plans Were Likely Scrapped Prior to 2017
Reflecting on this find, RafaelSwi speculated that Rockstar might have initially left open the possibility of bringing the game to the Switch, but canceled those plans after it was announced that the Wii U successor would use the 64-bit ARM architecture. That theory would explain why the source code contains more mentions of the console’s NX codename than its official Switch moniker. The chances of this theory being based on a severely outdated codebase appear slim, as the latest files found in the massive leak are dated from the second half of 2021.
The Switch port ofRed Dead Redemptionthat was released in August 2023 is still the only RAGE engine game that has made its way to Nintendo’s hit console to date. RafaelSwi asserted thattrying to runGTA 5on the Switchbefore the engine itself was ported to the console would have been “a waste of time,” concluding that there’s no indication that the game was ever in active development for the hybrid console.
WhetherGTA 5might finally make its way to Nintendo hardware with the rumored 2024 launch of the Switch successor remains to be seen. But given recent precedent, what’s clear is thatGrand Theft Autofans shouldn’t hold their breath forGTA 6on the Switch 2, for all the same reasons that made the Switch miss out on the previous game.
Grand Theft Auto 5
WHERE TO PLAY
When a young street hustler, a retired bank robber and a terrifying psychopath find themselves entangled with some of the most frightening and deranged elements of the criminal underworld, the U.S. government and the entertainment industry, they must pull off a series of dangerous heists to survive in a ruthless city in which they can trust nobody, least of all each other.Grand Theft Auto V for PC offers players the option to explore the award-winning world of Los Santos and Blaine County in resolutions of up to 4k and beyond, as well as the chance to experience the game running at 60 frames per second.The game offers players a huge range of PC-specific customization options, including over 25 separate configurable settings for texture quality, shaders, tessellation, anti-aliasing and more, as well as support and extensive customization for mouse and keyboard controls. Additional options include a population density slider to control car and pedestrian traffic, as well as dual and triple monitor support, 3D compatibility, and plug-and-play controller support.
