Rockstar Games' servers have been under heavy fire from massive DDoS attacks in recent days, causing widespread login and connectivity issues for players of GTA Online.
These attacks come in the wake of Rockstar’s recent implementation of BattlEye, a new anti-cheat system designed to crack down on in-game cheating, sparking backlash from a segment of the player base. Protesters, unhappy with the new system, have resorted to using distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to disrupt the servers, escalating tensions between the gaming giant and its community.
The introduction of BattlEye has effectively broken support for all Linux users, preventing them from accessing GTA Online, the multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto V. The anti-cheat system has also made the game incompatible with the Steam Deck, a popular handheld gaming platform. As a result, Steam Deck players are now unable to play GTA Online, further increasing the discontent among the gaming community. Rockstar has placed the blame for this on Valve, despite the fact that other games utilizing BattlEye remain fully compatible with the platform.
The DDoS attacks, which began intensifying around September 21, 2024, have left both PC and console players frustrated, with many reporting long loading times, failed login attempts, and frequent disconnections. Rockstar's servers have struggled to handle the surge of traffic generated by botnets—malicious networks of infected devices—used to flood the servers and render them temporarily inoperable. The attackers reportedly targeted authentication servers, affecting access across multiple platforms, including PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
@morsmutual_ | X
The group behind these DDoS attacks is allegedly protesting Rockstar’s decision to integrate BattlEye, a third-party anti-cheat software. BattlEye, widely used in other popular games, works by detecting cheating software and banning players who use hacks or cheats. However, the system’s introduction has caused unrest within a portion of the player community, some of whom view it as too aggressive or prone to false positives.
Twitter user @morsmutual_, who is tracking the situation closely, claimed that more attacks are likely unless Rockstar fortifies its defenses. They also noted that the attackers seem determined to continue the disruption until Rockstar makes the system harder to bypass or weakens its enforcement.
For Rockstar, the stakes are high. Founded in 1998 and known for iconic titles like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, the company has built a global following with its immersive open-world games. The ongoing DDoS attacks threaten both Rockstar's reputation and revenue streams. As players grow increasingly frustrated with the server instability, some may shift their attention to rival games, leading to potential long-term losses in player engagement and sales.
This isn’t the first time Rockstar has faced security issues either; just last year, a serious remote code execution exploit (CVE-2023-24059) surfaced in the PC version of GTA V, which allowed hackers to manipulate player accounts and lock them out of the game.
Despite Rockstar’s efforts to stabilize the servers, many players continue to report sporadic outages. The company has not provided an official timeline for when the issues will be fully resolved. Meanwhile, those responsible for the attacks seem emboldened, and it remains unclear how far the disruptions will go.
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I guess they aren’t DDOSing hard enough. I can still get in and play without really any issues and have been enjoying not being griefed by chumps for the first time in ages. I feel for the linux/deck users who are locked out of online, but i can’t imagine that won’t eventually be addressed, as Battleye does have a linux client.
Garbage article since you didn’t explain at all why the community is upset. They sold the game to Linux users only to later deploy an anticheat that is incompatible with Linux. They basically took the game back from people who paid for it. Valve is offering refunds, but Rockstar isn’t.
We updated the article noting how this affects Linux users. Thanks for your feedback.
I disagree. Rockstar could’ve enabled this right from the beginning. The fact that they didn’t is very telling.
Idk why but a lot of big companies don’t trust Linux users even though the vast majority of game hackers target windows instead of Linux. All because
Linux has a stigma of being the “hacker OS” the truth is, Linux hackers are a small group of the Linux scene nowadays, especially with the advent of the steam deck, and most Linux hackers ain’t hacking games, they hacking hardware and networking – trying to gain access to systems. Not cheat in video games.
You didn’t mention it’s the Linux community that’s upset. I’m one of them. I was so mad when they got rid of proton support. Games should be for everyone