GTA Online Set To Become Unplayable For Millions Ahead Of GTA 6 Launch

Thanks to the efforts of a very talented dataminer, it appears that Rockstar Games will be implementing a new system in GTA Online that may block access for millions of people, in both Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto VI.

You’re more than likely already well aware of this if you’re in the United Kingdom, but the government recently began fully implementing their Online Safety Act across the country.

In short, the days of clicking “Yes, I’m 18” on NSFW websites are long gone, and you’re now required to properly verify your age, using either a credit card check or a selfie.

However, it seems that the UK has inspired a few other countries to follow suit, as, according to a recent article by Techradar's Chiara Castro, EU countries such as Denmark, Spain, Greece, France, and Italy are also considering implementing their own age verification acts.

So, what does this have to do with Grand Theft Auto VI and Rockstar Games?

As spotted by well-known dataminer Tez2 (per Comicbook's Tyler Fischer), Rockstar Games seems to be in the process of implementing their own age verification method in GTA V’s online component, GTA Online.

“Jokes aside, Rockstar is planning to implement age assurance checks in the near future, rolling them out by region,” Tez2 revealed in a post on Twitter.

“You may need to verify your age to access #GTAOnline, or certain features, like phone messages, text chat, Snapmatic, may be restricted until you verify your age.”

For the time being, it seems this will only relate to the current version of GTA Online (whenever it goes into effect). Of course, if Rockstar Games is required to implement it by law now, they’ll also have to do the same thing for GTA VI.

Considering the number of squeaky-sounding twelve-year-olds that you can hear on voice chat every time you load into a server in GTA Online, this will doubtlessly result in millions, if not tens of millions, of people being unable to access the game entirely.

Whether or not you think age verification laws are a good thing, I can’t be the only one who thinks that this will massively improve the GTA Online experience, right?

No offence, kids, but I’m a grown ass man. If I enjoyed playing video games with kids, I’d download Roblox.

I can’t personally say that I’m in support of the Online Safety Act in the UK (or at least, the way it's been implemented), but hey, if it results in GTA Online servers being populated with people my age… silver linings, I guess?