Rockstar Games has just announced that it is going to shut down the GTA Online server for Xbox 360 and PS3 on December 16, 2021. In addition, older-gen console players won’t be able to buy any more Shark Cash Cards starting from September 15, 2021. The single-player component of GTA V however, will still be intact, playable, and buyable from PSN and Xbox 360 marketplace for the foreseeable future.
Aside from sunsetting the online multiplayer mode of GTA V, other PS3 and Xbox 360 titles that use the Rockstar Games Social Club features will stop working on September 16, 2021, as well. Including:
- Website stat tracking, online multiplayer, and leaderboards for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Max Payne 3.
- Website stat tracking for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of L.A. Noire.
The company said that the reason behind the closing down of the seventh generation GTA Online server, seven years after its debut on the original platforms, is to support the current-gen updates and port.
As we continue to move forward with updates and support for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto Online — as well as prepare for this Fall’s launches of the new expanded and enhanced versions of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S — the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA Online, including website stat tracking via the Rockstar Games Social Club, will officially be shutting down on December 16, 2021.
Please note, these changes are strictly for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA Online, and will have no impact on access to, or progress within, the Grand Theft Auto V Story Mode.”
The closure of an old platform’s server in a cross-generational game is not something out of the ordinary. In June 2017, Square Enix shut down the PS3’s Final Fantasy XIV server just as the Stormblood expansion was going to be launched. It seems developers do this mostly because older platforms’ hardware won’t be able to handle any planned visual fidelity upgrades and the game’s filesize that keep ballooning with all the additional content. If you’re still on one of the older consoles, will you move out to current-gen consoles or PC? Let us know what you think of this news in the comments.