It Finally Happened – GTA 5 Modded to Run on Nintendo Switch

Grand Theft Auto 5 has been a multiplatform juggernaut, consistently jumping across systems and generations, ultimately blanketing the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. A glaring omission in the past few years was Nintendo’s record breaking hybrid handheld console, the Switch. Now, finally through the magic of mods, GTA V runs on the Switch too.

Sure, it isn’t official, and it doesn’t run particularly well, but it does run. The team behind the achievement is Superstar South, who have made attempts to mod GTA 5 on the Switch in lieu of the real port – however, in the past they met little success, with the game crashing before the game would load.

Superstar South used the source code that leaked late last year and caused a big uproar among the community to support their efforts. This comes off as more than a little bit ironic, because tied to this leak was also the revelation that a Switch port wasn’t even ever planned by Rockstar.

In the latest footage posted by the developers, they captured actual gameplay during the North Yankton prologue mission of the GTA 5 story mode. It’s fairly choppy, but Superstar South noted that the recording isn’t as smooth as the actual gameplay output was.

Obviously you want to at least see how far we got…

(the recording is not as smooth when compared to hardware video output) pic.twitter.com/y0oSRterbD

— Superstar South (@SuperstarS31668) April 17, 2024

Fans have been asking for an official Nintendo Switch port of Grand Theft Auto V for years, and many were convinced that something other than technical limitations is holding it back – after all, GTA 5 first launched in 2013, with much more recent and graphically demanding games making the jump to the hybrid handheld console.

With other Rockstar titles, many GTA games among them, available on the Switch, it also wasn’t an issue between the developer and Nintendo. The main theory is that while some version of GTA 5 could run on the Switch, it wouldn’t be the Enhanced Edition or even the very latest versions running on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S – Rockstar might not want to release what is perceived as a “downgrade.

The modded unofficial port that’s been recorded as running on a non-overclocked Switch in handheld mode definitely has compromised performance, but this is also the work of modders who do not have the resources, support and infrastructure a massive company like Rockstar would have – and considering the immense popularity of the Switch, there would definitely be money to be made there.

Another theory is that it is simply too late – both GTA 6 and the successor to the Nintendo Switch are fast approaching, relatively. Despite the lasting popularity of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the Switch, at this point it just might not be a profitable enough prospect in comparison to the investment of making an official-grade port.

To address the elephant in the room – the chances of any fans getting some sort of access to a modded copy of GTA 5 to run on their own Switch? Basically zero. Rockstar games wouldn’t take kindly to any kind of distribution, and have successfully pursued legal action against modders they considered to be harming their business in the past.

Add to this Nintendo being the most notoriously litigious game company ever, and you have a double whammy of legal heavy hitters who would almost definitely engage should any unofficial way of playing GTA 5 on the Switch become accessible to the public. Plus, you know, Superstar South’s port may run, but it definitely isn’t something they’d release in this state.

Something about it taking more than a decade (damn!) between the first release of GTA 5 and an unofficial modded port running on the Switch – even taking into account how much after GTA 5 the Switch debuted – would certainly have us temper expectations about GTA 6 ever making it to the successor to the Switch.

The upcoming hugely anticipated sequel is currently only announced for PlayStation and Xbox consoles. We’re fairly confident in an eventual PC release, but other than the inevitable jump to next-gen, we wouldn’t be holding our breaths for any other ports.

In the meantime, fans can watch the footage released by Superstar South and wonder about what might have been.