Summary
- Rockstar Games may be working on bringing text chat to Grand Theft Auto Online Enhanced.
- The fan favorite feature was left absent from the game’s PC upgrade earlier this month.
- An in-game file has been discovered with a comment from a developer discussing the feature’s return.
Text chat may soon return to Grand Theft Auto Online after being absent in the game’s enhanced upgrade. After years of being exclusive to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, Rockstar Games finally released the “Expanded & Enhanced” version of Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto Online for PC users, bringing a myriad of technical upgrades and graphical improvements to the title. However, the surprise removal of text chat has resulted in massive backlash from the community.
For PC users, Grand Theft Auto 5 has now been split into two separate games: Legacy and Enhanced. The former of the two is the original version of Grand Theft Auto 5 before the Enhanced upgrade, meaning no ray tracing options, no ultrawide monitor support, and more. However, the Enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto 5 comes with a plethora of graphical improvements for players to check out, including ray tracing features such as ambient occlusion and global illumination, support for AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS, faster loading times, enhanced support for higher resolutions and aspect ratios, and much more.
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Rockstar Games Reportedly Working On Text Chat for GTA Online
Although the free upgrade comes with plenty of improvements, fans were left annoyed after discovering that text chat had been removed from Grand Theft Auto Online. While the feature remains readily available in the legacy version of the game, players jumping into a public lobby in Grand Theft Auto Online Enhanced are unable to communicate via text. However, it looks like the feature could soon be returning, as a user on GTA Forums discovered a message from a Rockstar developer left in the game files. The message reads, “Text chat option not yet added to Gen9. Coming soon.”
It’s unclear when the feature could return, but it appears as though Rockstar is upgrading the feature for the new version of the game and failed to have it ready for the launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced. The studio also likely didn’t anticipate the huge outrage from the community after its removal. As of writing, Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced reviews are mixed on Steam, with many of the negative user reviews citing the lack of text chat as the reason. There are also plenty of users experiencing performance issues and graphical glitches, which has also lowered the game’s review score.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only issue that has plagued Grand Theft Auto Online since the Enhanced upgrade. To celebrate the update’s release, Rockstar Games attempted to give away a free vehicle for Grand Theft Auto Online players. The vehicle in question is the Karin S95, which many fans were eager to redeem. However, fans quickly noticed that upon redeeming the “free” vehicle, they were being charged almost two million GTA$. Although some players were being refunded, the community was left annoyed, with some even refusing to claim the car.
- Released
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October 1, 2013
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
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Rockstar North