The fan-made port of Grand Theft Auto 5 for Nintendo Switch, which turned plenty of heads earlier in September, is finished. Lead modder Mojso announced that the project has been shut down and will never reach the public, following legal action from Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games.
For Nintendo owners, that closes the door on what would have been the first numbered Grand Theft Auto game on a Nintendo system since GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. If you want to keep tabs on everything happening around the series, we collect it all in our GTA news section.
What the project actually managed to do
This was not just a concept or a mockup. The team got GTA 5 running natively on the original Switch, and an Android version was part of the plan too. The modder even had a large chunk of GTA Online working, which is exactly the kind of progress that pushed the project into headlines.
And headlines were the problem. Once the port made the news, it did not take long for Take-Two to step in.
The timeline of the shutdown
- Mid-September: trouble starts building around the project after it gains wide attention.
- September 23: the modding team’s Discord account is banned, with copyright infringement given as the reason for breaking the rules.
- September 28: Mojso announces the port is shut down and will not be released.
- October 3: the entire modding group is set to close down.
Allegedly, the GTA 5 Switch project made use of leaked source code for the game, which very likely made the group’s situation considerably worse. Mojso said he appreciated that Take-Two showed “mercy,” and has been turning away every attempt by commenters to find some kind of workaround.
Why nobody should be surprised
Take-Two is famously protective of the Grand Theft Auto IP, and unofficial projects that rebuild or port Rockstar assets have a long track record of ending exactly like this – including the attempt to bring Liberty City into GTA 5. Rockstar also recently made its position on community projects clearer, as we covered when the studio tightened its mod rules.
What it means for you
If you were hoping to play GTA 5 on a Nintendo handheld, there is currently no path there. Nintendo consoles have received GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas and even the original Red Dead Redemption over the years, but GTA 4, GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 remain missing, and Rockstar has announced nothing about changing that.
A developer recently explained that while a GTA 6 port to Nintendo Switch 2 might technically be possible, it probably would not happen. For now, PlayStation and Xbox remain the platforms where you can play the widest range of Grand Theft Auto games, and PC players are still waiting for details on an eventual GTA 6 release – a topic Take-Two’s CEO touched on when he called the PC platform important. GTA 5 itself is still available through the official Rockstar page on the usual platforms.
FAQ
No. It was an unofficial fan project led by modder Mojso, with no involvement from Rockstar Games or Nintendo.
Take-Two Interactive took legal action against the project. The team’s Discord account was banned on September 23 for copyright infringement, and the modder announced the shutdown on September 28.
The lead modder says it will not be released to the public and has deflected attempts by commenters to find a workaround. The whole modding group is closing down on October 3.
Over the years Nintendo systems have received GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas and the original Red Dead Redemption. GTA 4, GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are not available there.
A developer recently said such a port might be possible, but that it likely would not happen. There has been no announcement from Rockstar either way.