Rockstar Games’ decision to integrate BattlEye anti-cheat software with Grand Theft Auto V on PC has caused issues for Steam Deck users, preventing them from accessing GTA Online multiplayer mode in its entirety.

This means that Steam Deck gamers are currently unable to participate in online sessions or interact with their friends who are playing the game through other platforms. The game has therefore been rated as “Unsupported” on the Steam Deck at the moment, after being Verified for a very long time.

This is also a very late change to the game that was released in 2015. You may wonder, why do so many people seem to care about game that’s now so old. Well, it’s still being played at a very high level. It’s actually among the top10 games that are played online on Steam, even in 2024, right now!

With give or take 70k concurrent players, and a potential share of Linux users between 2 and 3%, this may be something like 2000 Linux gamers directly impacted by the change who were playing the game online until now. If you have a few percents as a vocal minority, you should expect to see it pop online in different places as complaints and compatibility reports, and this is exactly what is surfacing on ProtonDB for example. Note that this does not impact the single player campaign since you can play it as is.

However, Valve claims that this problem could be resolved by Rockstar sending a single email to update the game’s configuration settings and resolve any compatibility issues between Steam Deck and BattlEye support for GTA Online. According to Valve, this would allow players on Steam Deck to access online multiplayer mode without any further complications. It is well known that BattlEye has been supported on Linux and the Steam Deck for quite a white now - it started with ARMA3 back in 2021. Other games such as ARK: Survival Evolved and DayZ have successfully integrated both BattlEye support and compatibility with the Steam Deck without any issues.

Grand Theft Auto V has been one of the most popular titles to play on Steam Deck since its release, complete with a fully functional online mode that allows players to connect with each other seamlessly. This made people wonder if Rockstar has been doing this on purpose to make it harder for Steam Deck or Linux users to enjoy their game.

Since then, Valve has been apparently working closely with Rockstar Games’ developers to find a solution that will allow Steam Deck users to access online multiplayer mode without any problems.

However, Rockstar may be reluctant to proceed due to concerns over cheating and custom kernel configurations (BattlEye works in user mode in Linux environments), which could render the anti-cheat solution less effective.

In the meantime, modders have taken things into their own hands by adding a workaround for example in YimMenu, a custom launcher for GTA5.

This may be a temporary fix but this may not last very long as Rockstar may take action quickly.