‘Grand Theft Auto’ Cheaters Have Their Accounts Reset

There’s an old saying that, “cheaters never win.” Be it virtual or in real-life, cheaters are going to get caught and receive their comeuppance. Last week, Rockstar Games punished players who were caught cheating in Grand Theft Auto Online.  The bug in question, known as the “apartment garage glitch,” allowed players to gain near-endless cash flow should they purchase certain properties and navigate through a specific set of menu options. The glitch became so well known that Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive began issuing copyright strikes on YouTube videos that explained how to exploit this little bug.

Rather than banning these players, Rockstar unleashed a punishment that’s just as bad: it reset their accounts. Everything purchased was removed, and all their progress has been set back to zero. In a post on Rockstar’s Support Page, the company released the following statement:

“Players found to be manipulating and abusing Property trade-ins to gain GTA$ illegitimately have had affected characters reset. As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain a healthy game environment for all players, anyone found to be abusing exploits and cheats to illegitimately gain GTA$ and in-game items may be subject to penalties including cash balance adjustments, character resets, suspensions and up to permanent bans as appropriate.”

While some felt that Rockstar went too far on their punishment and vented their frustrations on Twitter, others cheered the company for cracking down on people who would exploit a bug in the game.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online are currently available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. An updated version for both PS5 and Xbox Series X is set to release sometime in 2021, which will include improved graphics and performance. Current owners will receive that version free of charge.