You can sign up to get a daily email of our articles, see the Mailing List page.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Update #1 - 14:31 UTC: Rockstar have now put up an official FAQ for BattlEye where they state:

Is BattlEye compatible with Steam Deck?

Steam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online. You will be able to play GTAV Story Mode but unable to play GTA Online.

Note: GTAV and GTA Online are not officially supported on Steam Deck and all technical support questions should be directed to Valve’s Steam Deck support content and community.

I'm still currently waiting for an official statement from Rockstar on any plans to enable it, since BattlEye as mentioned below is supported on Linux / Steam Deck.

Update #2 - 18/09/24, 9:30 UTC: Rockstar press did not reply, but their support team did. They simply copied the new FAQ entry noted above, and when pushed just told me to use their feedback form and closed up my ticket asking about it. Typical support-level reply.

I've emailed Valve press to see if they have anything they would like to say on the situation.


Original article below:

Surprisingly, Rockstar have now added BattlEye anti-cheat to Grand Theft Auto V / GTA Online, and sadly it seems they have not enabled the support for Linux desktop and Steam Deck with Valve's Proton. The game is currently rated Steam Deck Playable.

When you try to play online, you might stay in for a minute or so but then abruptly you get this and you're kicked:


Pictured - my test of GTA V Online on Kubuntu 24.04

Hopefully this is just an oversight, since BattlEye does have Linux platform support. I've reached out to Rockstar in a few places to ask about it, to see if they do plan to enable Proton support for BattlEye.

Even if it wasn't intentionally blocked, let's say they overlooked enabling it, this once again just goes to show that the Steam Deck and Linux gaming have ways to go before bigger developers and publishers actually do some proper testing.

Considering it's one of the most played games on Steam overall, it will be quite a loss if it's intentionally not being enabled. It's also one of the most played games on Steam Deck specifically too, so it would make this banner on the Steam page look a bit silly if it stays broken:

The single-player story mode continues to work though.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
18 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
See more from me
43 comments
Page: «3/5»
  Go to:

slaapliedje Sep 17
Quoting: whizse
Quoting: tfkI'm a cheetah! I'm a cheetah!
Cheetah? When that's clearly a penguin avatar? I think he's lion to us!
These were supposed to be Atari's next two consoles after the Jaguar.
reaply Sep 17
This unfortunately feels like a testing ground for Rockstar to implement battle eye for GTA 6. They will get feedback and see how the public feels about it. Linux users be damned.
Viesta2015 Sep 17
Quoting: tesfabpelI'm afraid this is gonna blow up and it will be something very frightening for us gaming on Linux.

If a user requests a refund, who is gonna pay? R*? But they are not officially supporting Linux... Valve? But they're going to refund you out of its own pocket.

If R* is forced to pay you back, they may sue Valve for allowing people to run a software in unintended ways...

Scary stuff...

I tried getting a refund... steam denied it... so all linux users are screwed.
Cyba.Cowboy Sep 17
Wait, Grand Theft Auto V had working multiplayer under Linux-based operating systems?

I certainly hope this is a mistake, but I would quickly buy the game on PC if this in fact works with multiplayer gaming.,. I only really play multiplayer games on my consoles; but I've been sort-of looking for multiplayer games to play on my new gaming laptop, and this would fit the bill nicely.
fagnerln Sep 17
Quoting: reaplyThis unfortunately feels like a testing ground for Rockstar to implement battle eye for GTA 6. They will get feedback and see how the public feels about it. Linux users be damned.

This.

And I sincerely think that GTA VI will be always online.

TBH I don't care about GTA and looks like R* is turning in a pretty shitty dev. It's sad anyway.
rifergom Sep 17
I hope this is just a temporary issue because, for now, it's a real blow to those of us who play on Linux or have a Steam Deck. I’m not sure, but I’d say there are quite a few of us who use Valve’s console. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Cybolic Sep 18
Surely, BattlEye won't sit quietly while one of their customers is spreading false information about their product? Apart from scamming paying customers, it wouldn't surprise me if this isn't exactly according to whatever terms they've signed with BattlEye; claiming that Valve is in charge of BattlEye's Linux support sounds like defamation to me.

Disclaimer: I am most definitely not a lawyer.


Last edited by Cybolic on 18 September 2024 at 12:25 am UTC
enigmaxg2 Sep 18
QuoteThe single-player story mode continues to work though.

At least you don't get locked out entirely of the game like EA is doing with the Battlefield series (retroactively).

I hope they end up enabling it and not becoming another Microshit shills.
QuoteSteam Deck does not support BattlEye for GTA Online.
The opposite is true.
lectrode Sep 18
Damn. I have over 1500 hours in this game, the vast majority of it online. I've spent money on this for in-game currency. heck, I've bought this game for friends so they could join me (and have an excuse not to play other crap games like destiny).

All the mod menus online are definitely an issue. I greatly appreciated that they made most features available in public lobbies also available in private, friend-only sessions some months back. Made playing in online fun again. Prior to that I would frequently have to "lag" out into my own public session to play the game without getting stuck in a death loop from some modder (they would just teleport your character underwater as soon as you respawn, or spawn explosions to where you're at, or any number of things, making the game unplayable).

It's wishful thinking to believe that this will stop the mod menus being used online for more than a few days. Blocking linux users, however, will last as long as they don't enable proton support.

The *real* solution to their online cheater issues is proper server-side anticheat (i.e. ensuring that what the client tells the server is actually humanly possible, and doesn't F with other players), and fixing up their network connections so it's not a glaring vulnerability on everyone's systems (particularly on windows).


Last edited by lectrode on 18 September 2024 at 4:41 am UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register


Or login with...
Sign in with Steam Sign in with Google
Social logins require cookies to stay logged in.