GTA Online no longer works with the Steam Deck due to its anti-cheat software. This is despite BattlEye offering an opt-in option for this type of thing.

Grand Theft Auto Online, a decade after its release, has received an anti-cheat program named BattlEye. According to Valve's store page for the Grand Theft Auto Online game and an official Rockstar FAQ, the Steam Deck is no longer compatible.

This is a dramatic change, given that GTA 5 -- and, likely, GTA Online -- was once one of Valve’s most popular Steam Deck games. Even at the time this article was written, it was still listed on the leaderboards. It's now got a big "unsupported sticker."

Rockstar's FAQ as well as the 1.69 update confirm that this is intentional for the moment. Both say: "Steam Deck doesn't support BattlEye in GTA Online." You will be able play GTA 5 Story Mode, but not GTA Online.

The Verge notes that this is despite the fact there are Steam Deck compatible games that use BattlEye. Proton is the culprit: a compatibility layer which allows Linux users to run Windows games (Steam Deck's SteamOS is based on Linux). BattlEye is still possible as long as the developer contacts the anti-cheat vendor.

Valve stated in 2021 that "BattlEye integration on Proton has reached a stage where a developer only needs to contact BattlEye for their title." "No developer work is needed beyond that communication." BattlEye announced proudly that it would also support Proton in the same year: "This will happen on an opt-in base, with game developers deciding whether they want to accept it or not."

This is to say that while Rockstar's claim about the Steam Deck not supporting BattlEye in GTA Online technicallytrue but the onus seems to be on Rockstar unless something changes. The FAQ and updates still state that "all questions regarding technical support should be directed towards Valve's Steam Deck community and support content."

There have been a few negative reviews on Steam in the last couple of days. I wouldn't call this a bomb yet, as there are still about 20,876 reviews from the past 30 days and the current grumblings don't seem to have made a dent yet in the overall percentile. The reviews yesterday were a coin toss, with 602 negative and 626 positive. At least, there are murmurs of an uprising.

If Rockstar is indeed too stubborn to ask BattlEye to turn on the 'works With Steam Deck' switch, that's a bizarre set of choices for me, especially when you consider how much money GTA Online brings in for Rockstar. I've contacted both Rockstar and BattlEye to ask for comment. I will update this article when I receive a reply.