Why launching GTA 5 on the Switch won't be a good idea

The Nintendo Switch has had several popular remakes and remasters show up on the powerful handheld device, but what about GTA 5? Could it feasibly run on the handheld? It absolutely could. After all, modern games like Assassin’s Creed and Saints Row have appeared on Nintendo’s latest hardware.

While it might be enjoyable to see this come to life, and Grand Theft Auto fans would certainly love to see it, there is just one truly major problem stopping this from happening. It’s an absolutely massive game, and the number of cuts or downgrades it would require to reduce the file size would not be worth it.

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GTA 5 is simply too large of a game to run on the Nintendo Switch

When it comes to just file size, GTA 5 is a huge game, clocking in at around 72 GB for the HD remaster of the game. That’s right, the remake is nearly 100 GB, and that’s just not feasible for the Nintendo Switch.

Fans who don’t buy a physical release would have to have a much bigger microSD to simply play the game. The maximum file size for a Nintendo Switch cartridge is supposed to be 32 GB as well.

The standard Switch has 32GB of space, and the OLED has 64 GB of onboard space. Sure, fans can buy more space in the form of a microSD card, but that’s just another barrier to accessing the game. Being forced to buy another physical product just to play one game would undoubtedly upset gamers.

It’s not unreasonable to have a digital-only release, but for a game of this size, it would certainly require another extraneous purchase, and that’s before adding the file sizes for DLC, which just adds even more to the game.

It would not be a popular option to release a game that requires another purchase to simply fit the game onto the console. Not everyone would have that problem though; many users default to having a larger microSD in their Switch to save their digital games, and the fact that it would be required would upset a large number of the fanbase.

The next thought would be to consider how to decrease the game’s quality to fit it onto a cartridge. There’s no telling what kind of changes would have to be made to simply bring GTA 5 to the Nintendo Switch. One option could be a Cloud Gaming version, but that invites its own issues and complaints.

The Kingdom Hearts Cloud Gaming version for the Switch was not well-received, and GTA 5 would probably see a similar negative reaction. A final problem would be Grand Theft Auto Online. It would also be a massive undertaking, and leaving this out would potentially disappoint many.

Grand Theft Auto Online would take up a tremendous amount of space, and releasing Grand Theft Auto 5 without its online companion would not go over well with the game's fanbase. It would also make significantly less money, making it a bad option for Rockstar Games.

The company will likely want to make sure that GTA Online is accessible, since that's where the real money lies in the franchise. Since this is not feasible at the moment, it's just not likely to see a release on the Switch.

While fans would no doubt love to take GTA 5 on the go with the Nintendo Switch, it’s not a viable prospect at this point in time. Interested players would be better off loading it onto a Steam Deck or a laptop and taking that with them instead. Unfortunately, it does not sound like it would be worth it to try and port the classic game onto the Switch.