GTA Online Has Officially Reached The End Of An Era

2 weeks ago 12

Published Mar 10, 2026, 10:31 AM EDT

Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream.

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GTA Online has enjoyed a pretty stellar run since its introduction over a decade ago. Rockstar is still cleaning up on purchases made within the service, and it has an active, lively player base.

GTA Online Is Now Unplayable For Millions

It's A Shame

Australia is evidently rolling out new age verification laws, which will be enforced starting this week. In short, any game rated R18+ (Australia's ESRB-equivalent rating) will require age verification, as will any media featuring AI chatbots. Since Australia requires this for online games, GTA Online is caught in the crossfire.

In a pretty extreme move, companies will be fined $50 million (AU) or more if they don't comply, so Rockstar is already prepped for the change. Based on community data mining, the publisher has already crafted a "verify age" landing page that provides a QR code for age verification. In Australia, this crackdown also applies to other forms of mature-rated media, including films.

“Any platform that carries 18-plus content or adult content is required to use age assurance, and we leave that up to the businesses themselves that give higher level assurance of just self-declaration,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant explains.

While other countries already have age verification in place for social media platforms, not every region has the same regulations or requirements. Some areas only ask for it for specific programs, and in select cases, age verification is non-existent, or will be "figured out automatically" by the platform holders. Others ask for ID or a photo to verify your age.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia will be potentially rolling out the following methods: "As with the social media ban rules, verification methods could include photo identification, facial age estimation, credit card checks, digital identity wallets or using artificial intelligence to estimate age based on the user’s data. Any measures used must comply with Australian privacy law."

It's The End Of An Era For GTA Online

Many Platforms Are Requiring Verification

Age verification is already causing a fervor among gamers and internet users across the world, mostly due to how it's implemented in disparate ways across the globe. Many potential issues include privacy concerns, such as the ability for private data to leak. In some cases, users are required to use a government ID, which is said to be "stored temporarily," but has been found in select data breaches.

Several companies, including Discord, are delaying the rollout of their age verification requirements amid fan pushback. This isn't the last we've seen of age verification impacting the gaming sphere, but GTA Online feels like a fairly large canary in the coal mine, given that it still has over 20 million users as of 2026.

Fans will adapt, of course. Some age verification methods can be circumvented, and some regions won't require them. If you're a GTA Online fan, though, and are affected, you have a choice to make.