GRAND Theft Auto developer Rockstar has announced that it is shutting down the game’s popular multiplayer mode on some consoles.
GTA Online, which is played by more than 100,000 people globally, will cease to exist on Xbox 360 and PS3 from December 16.
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The move will bring an end to the multiplayer mode as well as website stat tracking via the Rockstar Games Social Club, Rockstar said.
The US company will continue to run the service on Xbox One and PS4, where it’s still going strong nearly eight years on from the launch of GTA 5.
“Please note, these changes are strictly for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA Online,” Rockstar said in a statement on Wednesday.
The shutdown “will have no impact on access to, or progress within, the Grand Theft Auto V Story Mode”, the New York-based firm added.
Rockstar said it is now focussing its efforts on expanded and enhanced versions of GTA 5 and GTA Online on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
GTA 5 hit shelves in 2013 and by the end of this year will have spanned three generations of console.
More than 140 million people have played GTA 5 on PlayStation 4 alone, according to data analytics firm GamStat.
It’s thought that around 130,000 people login to GTA Online every month across consoles and PC.
Rockstar is likely shutting down the service on the 360 and PS3, which came out in 2005, as player numbers dwindle on the older-generation consoles.
