GTA 5: How to Get It For Free on PC


Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the biggest video games of all time, and right now PC players can get the game entirely for free.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the most popular, and successful, games of all time. Although the title launched way back in 2013, the last few years have seen GTA Online explode in popularity, with crazy player-created events like alien turf wars popping up recently.

Grand Theft Auto 5 offers a robust single-player campaign and a big multiplayer experience, so it’s the perfect game to dig into during quarantine. The good news is the game will be free on PC for a limited time.

Related: GTA 5 Online’s Casino Explained: Everything You Can & Should Do

Players on PC can get the game pretty easily, but there’s just a couple of steps to complete. Here’s how to get GTA 5 for free on PC.

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Grand Theft Auto 5 on the Epic Games Store

Grand Theft Auto Main Characters

The Epic Games Store has a tradition of weekly free games, and it looks like the free title is going to be GTA 5 from 5/14 to 5/21. The free offer first leaked via a Tweet on the Epic Game Store’s official account. The tweet has since been taken down, but a screenshot can be seen below via Wario64. Once players have GTA 5 in their library, it’s theirs to keep forever.

The only thing players need to do to get GTA 5 is to enable two-factor authentication on their accounts, then simply add the game to their library and download. However, at the time of writing the Epic Game Store has been flooded with players trying to log in and get the game for free. This has led to users getting errors, the launcher crashing, and more.

What To Do If the Epic Games Store Is Down

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Unfortunately, all anyone can do is wait until the Epic Games Store is back up and running properly. Closing out of the launcher completely and reopening might solve the problem, but it’s not guaranteed. Of course, accessing the Epic Games Store isn’t only for purchasing games, but necessary for launching games like Fortnite. The best thing to do is keep an eye on the Epic Games Store Twitter, as they’ll post updates as soon as the service is back up and running properly. As long as players download GTA 5 by May 21, they’ll get it for free.

Next: GTA 6 Release Year May Have Been Hidden In GTA 5 All Along

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Free GTA 5 Offer Takes Epic Games Store Offline


The Epic Games Store decides to release Grand Theft Auto 5 for free on their site, but the influx of excited fans overwhelmed the servers.

The Epic Games Store crashed earlier this morning as fans awaited the launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 for free on the site. The influx of people wanting to claim the game brought the servers down and users worldwide were no longer able to access the store.

GTA 5 is still clearly popular despite having released over six years ago. Most of the reason the game has remained in the limelight is because of the constantly updated GTA Online. Recently GTA Online introduced an in-game war between green and purple aliens. GTA also added in the massive Casino, that has given players a lot of content to keep the game feeling fresh. The game has continued to stay popular even with Grand Theft Auto 6 looming in the horizon.

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Related: Every GTA Character & Game Remade In Pokémon’s Style Looks Amazing

Polygon reported that the Epic Games Store crashed earlier today because of the influx of users. Both Epic’s website and launcher crashed right before 11 a.m. EDT which is when the free GTA 5 offer was supposed to go live. Additionally, it seems as though the issues have affected Fortnite as well with errors not allowing some players to login or make in-game purchases. Epic Games stated on Twitter, “We are aware that users may be encountering slow loading times, 500 errors, or launcher crashing at this time and we are actively working to scale. We’ll provide an update as soon as we can.

It seems that the issue came about because the Epic Games Store Twitter accidentally tweeted yesterday that GTA 5 would be free. The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before many players and news sites stumbled across it and began spreading the word. Epic Games was obviously not prepared for such a massive influx of players, which promptly brought down their servers. There is currently no word on when the servers will be back up, or how Epic Games plans on rectifying the issue.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is by far one of the most popular video games that has ever released. Sales have remained steady for the game since release, and at this point almost every gamer in the world has some experience with the title. It makes sense that if any game was going to bring Epic Games’ servers down it would be GTA 5. Hopefully the company can get the servers up and running again so everyone can download their free copy of Grand Theft Auto 5.

Next: GTA 6 Release Year May Have Been Hidden In GTA 5 All Along

Grand Theft Auto 5 can be played on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Source: Polygon, Epic Games

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Grand Theft Auto 5 Is Free On Epic Games Store Until Next Week


The Epic Games Store leaks its biggest free game giveaway yet, the massively popular Grand Theft Auto 5, which is available today.

It seems that Epic Games next free game offering will be none other than Rockstar Games’ true-crime extravaganza Grand Theft Auto 5. Epic’s online game store has been leading the charge in providing players with free titles to keep during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, ranging from smaller indie games to triple-A blockbusters of the past.

Released back in 2013, Grand Theft Auto 5 tells the story of three jaded yet complex criminals as they plan a major heist in the open-world city of Los Santos, and would go on to win multiple awards as well and make enough money to be known as one of the most profitable pieces of entertainment of all time. Recently, the game’s online component, separately titled Grand Theft Auto Online, has been making headlines thanks to a bizarre-yet-entertaining gang war between groups of players dressed as green and purple aliens, and fan theories regarding the planned sixth installment in the long-running Grand Thief Auto series have reached a fever pitch due to word that the game might in fact be well into development.

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Related: GTA Theory: Why There Are No Kids In Grand Theft Auto 5

In the meantime, it seems players will get a chance to check out developer Rockstar Games’ latest crime caper for themselves free of charge. As reported by Comicbook.com, the Epic Games Store’s official Twitter account accidentally leaked an announcement that Grand Theft Auto 5 will be free to download from today until May 21, before quickly deleting it. Like all of Epic’s free offerings, GTA 5 will be available for players to keep forever, with no strings attached until it returns to its original price point after the aforementioned deadline. You can check out a screenshot of Epic’s now-removed Tweet, courtesy of gaming rumor hound Nibel, below:

This is just the latest in a series of free giveaways by Epic Games that started back in 2019 and has only intensified as this year’s ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 has forced people to stay home and try to pass the time with activities like playing more video games. These offerings have varied in scope, ranging from quirky indie titles like The Stanley Parable and Tormentor x Punisher to big-name releases like Watch Dogs and Just Cause 4, and have earned Epic widespread praise from both players and developers alike.

Still, Grand Theft Auto 5 may be the Epic Games Store’s biggest free game offer yet, given the series’ success and relevance among both gaming and pop culture in general along with news of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 increasing in recent months. Such a massive title, filled with plenty of side quests and extra activities to distract players from the already meaty plot, being free to own is landmark bargain for players, especially with the included Grand Theft Auto Online being a deep and entertaining experience in its own right. Players will be able to own Grand Theft Auto 5 completely free of charge by logging on to the Epic Games Store between today and May 21.

More: GTA Online: How to Make a Mobile Command Center

Source: Comicbook.com, Nibel (via Twitter)

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GTA Online’s Green Alien Gangs Aren’t The Real Threat


Grand Theft Auto Online hackers are causing trouble during GTA’s multiplayer alien wars, making them a bigger threat than the green or purple gangs.

Grand Theft Auto’s multiplayer community is in the midst of a spontaneous alien war, where gangs of players wearing green and purple alien suits battle in the streets and grief unlucky players. Still, GTA Online’s most dangerous troublemakers aren’t aliens – they’re hackers. As the alien wars rage on, GTA Online hackers troll PC players with various in-game effects, like spawning objects on them and insta-killing them as they spawn.

Hacking is an issue for many multiplayer games, but GTA Online seems to have a particularly rough relationship with cheaters. Some GTA Online multiplayer mods are benign, allowing players to get the most out of GTA Online’s roleplaying community with immersion-enhancing NPCs and more. But others let malicious hackers directly mess with other players, halting their progress and generally making their in-game lives miserable.

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Related: GTA 6 Release Year May Have Been Hidden In GTA 5 All Along

The prominence of hackers in GTA Online is likely due to just how popular the game is. Lifetime sales have made GTA 5 the most profitable entertainment product ever, and its online mode seems to have played a large role in those sales. GTA Online had its biggest week for player numbers in mid-2019, almost a whole five years after it first released. GTA Online’s sudden alien gang war has no doubt brought new and returning players to the game once again, and that means more targets for cheaters and hackers.

How GTA Online Hackers Affect Gameplay (& The Player-Created Alien Wars)

Grand Theft Auto 5 Offers Green and Purple Alien Suits for Free (But Act Fast)

Many GTA Online Reddit posts have surfaced in the past few weeks about hacking attacks, but these aren’t new. The tricks GTA Online hackers employ have been around for years, such as sticking large objects to players like Mureked, framing players like Chepsur for cheated kills, and enabling “god mode” and flying vehicles, like Geochap witnessed. The best course of action when running into a hacker is to leave the lobby as soon as possible and report them to Rockstar Support, but some players say it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Rockstar has taken sweeping action to punish cheaters who take advantage of certain flaws in the game: Some players recently reported wiped GTA Online wallets and accounts after they used a casino chip exploit, for example. But reports of other hacking issues are still prevalent, and apparent hackers like forum user triniox (via Reddit user SupaSnipaX) have allegedly cheated for years without being banned. Several Reddit users have mentioned widespread cheating in most PC servers, and there’s even a “Gta5Modding” subreddit, where users openly discuss paying for in-game cash and other cheats.

Because the GTA Online alien invasion began as a more interesting way for groups of players to grief others and sew chaos, the unofficial event may have drawn out even more hacking, as it’s the most efficient way to do this. Perhaps it’s too late in GTA 5′s life to expect any kind of significant action on Rockstar’s part, but many GTA Online players are likely hoping Grand Theft Auto 6 has a better anti-cheat system.

Next: Grand Theft Auto 5 Offers Green and Purple Alien Suits for Free (But Act Fast)

GTA Online released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 1, 2013, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 18, 2014, and for PC on April 14, 2015.

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Every GTA Character & Game Remade In Pokémon’s Style Looks Amazing

All of the most prominent characters and locations from the Grand Theft Auto series are remade in the style of classic Pokémon titles in a new video.

There are a lot of different kinds of fan art for the Grand Theft Auto series, but one recent video combining the game’s popular characters and locations with the style of classic Pokémon may be the best mashup creation yet. Fan art has always been a central part of the Grand Theft Auto community, whether it is of different people’s roleplay characters on the fan site GTAForums or some of the more unscrupulous users creating and posting fake Grand Theft Auto 6 announcement trailers to places like Twitch in order to take advantage of player anticipation.

Currently, Grand Theft Auto Online’s community is engaged in a massive green versus purple alien battle, something which is set to culminate in a large-scale rumored “war” later this week. While not every player is engaging in the alien festivities (and some have even formed alien-hunting gangs inside Grand Theft Auto Online to try and dissuade more) it seems that, for the time being, Grand Theft Auto’s multiplayer world is a very strange place to be. For those players who are yearning for something simpler, a new video may provide just the escape they are looking for.

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Posted to YouTube earlier today by Hat-Loving Gamer, this twelve minute-long animation re-imagines the Grand Theft Auto series in the style of classic Nintendo GameBoy Pokémon titles, including battle animations, menu styles, sounds, and fonts. Check out the video below, and note how every main entry in the 3D Grand Theft Auto series, from Grand Theft Auto III to Grand Theft Auto V, is represented:

From the opening, which features Claude and 8-Ball from the intro scene of Grand Theft Auto III, to Carl Johnson pleading with Big Smoke and Niko Bellic facing off against his cousin Roman in a game of pool, this video includes all of the fan-favorite Grand Theft Auto characters, locations, and cliches. It even features a brief moment where Claude punches the air randomly and walks around in a circle before activating a hidden cheat code and dropping a tank into his path.

Until players get an official word on when the next Grand Theft Auto game is coming from Rockstar, fan creations and playing around with the aliens in Grand Theft Auto Online are the two next best things. While this creation by Hat-Loving Gamer is just a video and not an actual, playable game, it definitely looks like it would be very, very fun if it was, especially if all of these classic Grand Theft Auto characters could be included in the same title at once, interacting with each other as party members. If that were to happen, Pokémon’s Nurse Joy would definitely have her hands full.

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Source: Hat-Loving Gamer/YouTube

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Grand Theft Auto 4 Ray Tracing Mod Upgrades Game Visuals Dramatically


A modder uses ray tracing to greatly improve the graphics of Grand Theft Auto 4 and show what a remaster might potentially look like in the future.

A modder used ray tracing to show what a remastered version of Grand Theft Auto 4 could potentially look like. The game released in 2008 and many feel that it is time for a proper remastered version for newer consoles.

With many rumors surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6, it makes it very difficult to think about previous entries in the series. People have spent a lot of time replaying GTA 4 and 5, but the theories about what the newest entry will feature have finally begun to reach a boiling point in the community. Several leakers have stated that GTA 6’s story has already been completed and the game is past pre-production. Despite not knowing much about the new title, gamers have already been formulating theories about when and where GTA 6 will be set.

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Related: GTA 6 Leaks Claim RDR2 Feedback Slowed Down Rockstar’s Production

Modder Digital Dreams posted a video on YouTube earlier today that shows off what the 10 year-old GTA 4 could look like with updated graphics. This was done using ray tracing to enhance the graphics. As computers have become more powerful, ray tracing has become an effective way to boost the graphical qualities of games, and it has worked well with both older and newer games alike. Ray tracing in GTA 4 does have its drawbacks, though, as daytime viewing makes things look overly smooth and a little unnatural, while night time looks absolutely gorgeous.

Despite the success of GTA 5, the fourth game in the series has remained remained one of the most critically acclaimed video games of all time. GTA 5 spent most of its story showing off insane action and producing ridiculous story beats. GTA 4 had a much more serious story that focused on the life of an immigrant trying to live a normal life in America. Nico Bellic’s descent into crime was seen as necessary method of survival in a new country compared to the trio of GTA 5 who did what they did for much more selfish reasons. GTA 4 is ultimately more visceral and dark than anything Rockstar has produced since, and an updated version for modern or next-gen consoles would probably perform very well.

Using ray tracing to improve older games is not a new concept, and has actually been around for several years at this point. As time goes on and technology improves, it has become a more widely available method of updating graphics. It is always amazing to see the ways that modders are able to enhance classic games like GTA 4, and it will be interesting to see if this reignites interest in finally remastering one of Rockstar’s more popular video games.

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Source: Digital Dreams

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GTA Online Alien War Date & Location Set For Green vs. Purple Gangs


GTA Online’s green and purple alien gangs have scheduled a final “war” at the Los Santos Airport this week, meeting up for a community-wide battle.

Grand Theft Auto’s green-versus-purple alien battles are coming to a head, with the unofficial “official war” for the victor of GTA Online’s alien invasion scheduled for this week. Players plan to meet up at an in-game location for a big showdown, pitting GTA Online’s green and purple alien gangs – and, inevitably, a number of other crews and parties – against each other.

The GTA Online alien event suddenly blew up a few weeks ago, as players began sharing alien-themed clips on TikTok and other social media platforms. Players first donned green alien suits in large groups and griefed others on their servers, and this eventually escalated to an all-out invasion. Rival, anti-alien gangs formed to combat the threat, but the biggest conflict to emerge was between the green and purple aliens.

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Related: GTA Online: Melee Fighting Tips & Tricks

The entire thing happened completely unprompted by Rockstar, though the company did eventually acknowledge it by giving out the alien suits for free. Rather than an official, developer-designed event, GTA Online’s alien war is an example of the weird, spontaneous fun community-driven games can foster. It’s unknown how long the war will last, and this week’s showdown could be the its final battle, but players seem determined to have at least one last hurrah before it ultimately peters out.

GTA Online’s Green & Purple Alien War Date, Time, & Location

Grand Theft Auto GTA Online Green Purple Alien War Battle Location Date May 15

Several Reddit users recently shared plans for a green vs. purple battle on Friday, May 15. The plans appear to have their origins in GTA Online’s TikTok community (via Reddit user Soulsie8), where clips of GTA’s alien wars have gained popularity. Although one Reddit post claims the event will begin at 2 PM EST and another claims 8 AM EST, there doesn’t seem to be an “official” start time set for the battle. Instead, players will likely flock to the battle’s location – the in-game Los Santos International Airport (LSIA) – all day on Friday.

It’s obviously unknown how many players will actually end up participating in the May 15 battle, especially since the number of participants will vary depending on the given session and server. Still, the chance to witness and participate in a potentially big conflict between the goofy alien gangs is intriguing. Players looking to get in on the action can head to any in-game clothing store to find a GTA Online alien suit for free all week, and a free Pool Cue melee weapon can also be obtained from any Ammu-Nation gun shop until May 13.

Next: GTA 6 Release Year May Have Been Hidden In GTA 5 All Along

GTA Online released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 1, 2013, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 18, 2014, and for PC on April 14, 2015.

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