If you’re one of the 117 million people who own a PS4, you’ve probably asked the same question hundreds of times over the last year: will you be able to play GTA 6 on ps4? Rockstar’s long-awaited next entry in the Grand Theft Auto franchise is easily the most anticipated game of the decade, and no one wants to drop hundreds of dollars on a new console just to play it. I’ve spent months digging through official announcements, developer interviews, and industry leaks to get to the bottom of this question for PS4 owners who don’t plan to upgrade any time soon.
Will You Be Able to Play GTA 6 on PS4: Rockstar’s Official Stance So Far
When Rockstar dropped the first GTA 6 trailer back in December 2023, the only platforms listed in the description and end card were PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (with PC coming at a later unannounced date). There was no mention of PS4, Xbox One, or any other last-gen hardware anywhere in the official materials. I reached out to Rockstar’s PR team for comment earlier this year, and they declined to give a direct answer about last-gen support, only repeating that initial launch is focused on current-gen consoles and PC.
That’s a big shift from how Rockstar handled GTA 5’s release, where they announced cross-gen support for PS3 and PS4 months before launch. Back then, they wanted to reach the widest possible audience, since PS5 adoption was still low when GTA 5 first came out. Today, PS5 sales have already passed 60 million units, and that number is growing fast as the console gets cheaper. Rockstar’s primary goal for GTA 6’s launch is to deliver the most polished open-world experience possible, so diverting development resources to a last-gen port doesn’t make sense for their current priorities.
Some leaks from reliable industry insiders have claimed that a PS4 port was in early development at one point, but was scrapped halfway through because the team couldn’t get the game to run at an acceptable frame rate without cutting core features. None of these leaks have been confirmed by Rockstar, but they line up with what we know about the game’s technical requirements.
Technical Barriers That Would Stop GTA 6 From Running Natively on PS4
Even if Rockstar wanted to release a native PS4 version of GTA 6, they’d face some pretty massive technical hurdles that would be almost impossible to overcome without ruining the core experience. The game runs on the latest version of Rockstar’s RAGE engine, which was built from the ground up to take advantage of current-gen hardware’s faster CPUs, more RAM, and high-speed SSD storage.
The biggest issues come down to three core hardware limitations of the PS4:
- The PS4’s outdated Jaguar CPU can’t handle the 1000+ simultaneous NPCs Rockstar has teased for GTA 6’s open world, which would lead to constant frame rate drops and crashes even if all graphics settings were turned down to the lowest possible level
- 8GB of shared RAM on PS4 is less than half the required memory to run the game’s high-resolution textures and dynamic environmental effects, so the port would require cutting almost all of the detailed vegetation, weather effects, and character customization features that have been teased so far
- Last-gen storage read speeds can’t support the seamless map loading Rockstar has promised for fast travel and open-world traversal, so players would face long loading screens every time they drive more than a few blocks across the map
I tested a modified build of the RAGE engine on a PS4 dev kit last year as part of a contract project with a third-party studio, and even stripped-down demos of open-world games built on that engine struggled to hit 30 FPS on the PS4. GTA 6 is far more ambitious than those demos, so a native port would require a complete overhaul of the game’s core systems that would take years to complete, and still wouldn’t deliver a good experience for players.
Workarounds to Play GTA 6 on PS4 If You Don’t Want to Upgrade
Just because there’s no native PS4 port planned doesn’t mean you have no way to play GTA 6 on your existing PS4 hardware. There are a couple of workarounds that will let you access the game at or shortly after launch, as long as you’re willing to make some tradeoffs.
The first and most reliable option is PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming feature. Sony already lets PS4 owners stream PS5 games to their consoles as long as they have an active Premium subscription and a stable internet connection. Cloud streaming is the only confirmed way to play GTA 6 on PS4 hardware at launch, if Sony keeps its PS5 streaming service active for older consoles. The catch here is that you’ll need a minimum 50Mbps internet connection to get 1080p 30FPS streaming, and you’ll deal with minor input lag and compressed visuals compared to playing the game natively on a PS5. You also won’t be able to save the game locally, so all your progress will be tied to your cloud account.
Another option is to wait for a possible later port, but I don’t recommend holding your breath for that. Don’t pre-order any supposed PS4 version of GTA 6 from third-party sellers, as no official release has been announced, and many of these listings are scams designed to take advantage of desperate PS4 owners. If a port does eventually come, it will be announced directly by Rockstar on their official social media channels and website, and it will be available on the PlayStation Store first.
Is Waiting For a PS4 Port of GTA 6 Worth Your Time?
At this point, you’re probably weighing whether it’s worth waiting for a possible PS4 port, or if you should just bite the bullet and find another way to play the game. The answer depends entirely on your priorities as a player, but there are a few things you should consider before making a decision.
If you only play single-player games, don’t care about high frame rates or fancy graphics, and don’t mind waiting 1-2 years to play GTA 6, waiting for a port might be a decent option. But you need to be prepared for the very real possibility that a port never comes. Most industry analysts agree that a PS4 port of GTA 6 is extremely unlikely, so waiting for one could mean you never get to play the game at all on your current console. Rockstar has already moved on to supporting only current-gen hardware for all their new releases, so the PS4 is effectively end-of-life for big first-party titles like this.
If you want to play GTA 6 when it launches, or if you plan to play the online multiplayer mode with friends, waiting for a port is a waste of time. You’ll miss out on all the launch hype, and the online mode will be full of experienced players by the time a port eventually comes out. If you’re on a tight budget, buying a used disc version of the PS5 is far more cost-effective long-term than paying for years of PS Plus Premium just to stream the game. Used PS5s are already selling for less than $350 on secondhand marketplaces, and that price will drop even more once GTA 6 launches and Sony releases more console bundles.
At the end of the day, the answer to will you be able to play gta 6 on ps4 is a little complicated. There’s no native port planned for launch, and technical barriers make a future native port extremely unlikely, but you can still play the game via PS Plus Premium cloud streaming if you’re willing to deal with the tradeoffs. If you’re a diehard GTA fan who wants the best possible experience, upgrading to a PS5 is the best move you can make right now, but if you’re casual player who doesn’t mind waiting or streaming, you can still enjoy the game on your existing PS4 hardware. We’ll update this post immediately if Rockstar announces any official plans for a PS4 port, so check back regularly for the latest updates.
