GTA 5 Loses Steam Deck Verification as Rockstar Claims Valve’s Handheld Does Not Support Anti-Cheating Tech

You may have noticed that Grand Theft Auto V is no longer verified on Steam Deck. That’s seemingly because of the BattlEye new anti-cheat software for GTA Online, which rolled out earlier this week.

As Rockstar explains in its official FAQ, BattlEye is a kernel level anti-cheat intended to address some of the cheating problems in GTA Online. A side effect of this new software is that it apparently breaks GTA’s compatibility with Steam Deck, which Rockstar blames on Valve.

“Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online. You will be able to play GTA V Story Mode but unable to play GTA Online,” Rockstar writes. “GTA V and GTA Online are not officially supported on Steam Deck and all technical support questions should be directed to Valve’s Steam Deck support content and community.”

What’s interesting is that Steam Deck does actually seem to support BattlEye. As The Verge pointed out, Valve has previously said that enabling BattlEye support on Steam Deck is seemingly a matter of reaching out and asking for them to effectively flip a switch.

One way or another, it’s a loss for both Valve and fans of the Steam Deck, as GTA V has consistently been one of the platform’s most popular games. We called it one of the 10 best games on the Steam Deck, eclipsed only by Elden Ring, writing, “In many ways, the sandbox world of violence and crime it offers is well suited for on-the-go gaming. It’s easy to lose yourself in the many distractions Los Santos offers, and passing time on a real city bus while you hijack a GTA city bus is a rare level of portable-gaming inception.”

IGN has reached out to Valve and Rockstar for additional comment.

In the meantime, you’ll still be able to enjoy GTA V’s story on Steam Deck, which definitely still holds up even more than a decade later. You just won’t be able to pull off portable heists online. Alas.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.