A fan-made effort to bring one of the most popular games ever made to Nintendo's original handheld console has officially come to an end.
The team behind a widely followed "Grand Theft Auto V" port project for the Nintendo Switch has confirmed it is shutting down following action from the game's publisher, though the developer's response was notably gracious given the circumstances.
'GTA V' Nintendo Switch Mod Project Has Been Shut Down
The developer behind the project, known online as M0jso and operating under the team name Paralympics Productions, announced through a post on X that the "Grand Theft Auto V" Switch port project is officially over. The announcement confirmed the team had received communication regarding the project and chose to wind down rather than continue in the face of legal or corporate pressure.
The project had generated significant attention within the Nintendo and Grand Theft Auto communities, primarily because it was reportedly built using leaked Rockstar Games source code rather than a clean room reverse engineering approach.
Paralympics Productions is shutting down on October 3rd. Thank you everyone who supported us through tough times and lenghty development. I am sorry for not fulfilling your expectations and leaving you high and dry. I am thankful for take two's mercy so this is the definitive end
— Mojso (@M0jso) September 28, 2026
That distinction matters enormously from a legal standpoint, since using a company's actual proprietary code, even for a noncommercial fan project, represents a much more serious intellectual property issue than building something independently from scratch.
The leak in question traces back to a major breach of Rockstar source code that circulated online years ago, the same incident that also included early footage of "Grand Theft Auto VI."
Take-Two Interactive Is Behind Shutdown
Take-Two Interactive, which is the parent company of Rockstar Games and the publisher of the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, is believed to be the entity that acted against the project, consistent with the company's long-running and well-documented pattern of pursuing fan-made projects that touch its intellectual property without authorization.
Take-Two has previously issued cease and desist notices against GTA modding tools, reverse engineering efforts, and fan games over the years, making it one of the more aggressive major publishers when it comes to protecting the Grand Theft Auto brand from unauthorized use.
The developer confirmed this in their announcement, referencing Take-Two directly when describing the shutdown.
The project did not cite any specific legal filing or formal cease and desist letter in the public post, but the framing of the announcement made clear that this was a response to external pressure rather than a decision the team made independently.
Thanks Take-Two For Their 'Mercy'
The most striking element of the shutdown announcement was not that it happened, but how M0jso chose to frame it. The developer explicitly thanked Take-Two for what they described as mercy, suggesting the company could have pursued far more serious legal action than it did and chose instead to simply put a stop to the project.
"I am thankful for Take-Two's mercy," the developer wrote in the statement, an unusual and disarming response that caught widespread attention online.
That framing led many observers to read the statement as a signal that Take-Two had communicated with the team directly rather than immediately escalating to litigation, giving the developers an exit that did not involve lawyers and courts. Whether that reading is accurate is unclear, but the tone of the announcement strongly implied that Paralympics Productions considered the outcome better than it might have been given the use of leaked proprietary code.
Will There Be Another Mod?
M0jso did not indicate in the shutdown announcement whether the team plans to attempt another "GTA V" port project using a different method. The key legal complication with the current project was its reliance on leaked Rockstar source code, which is fundamentally different from building a port by studying the game's behavior and reconstructing its systems independently.
A clean room effort, where developers work only from the game's output without ever touching its underlying code, would be legally distinct and has historically been more defensible in cases where companies push back.
Whether that kind of project is realistic for a team working on a handheld Nintendo platform depends heavily on the game's technical demands and the hardware ceiling of the Switch itself. "Grand Theft Auto V" is a large, open-world game originally built for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hardware in 2013, which theoretically puts it within reach of portable hardware given how far chip technology has progressed, but a proper port would still require substantial optimization work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Is Take-Two Interactive?
Take-Two Interactive is an American video game holding company headquartered in New York City. The company owns and operates several major game publishing labels, including Rockstar Games, 2K Games, Private Division, and Social Point. Take-Two is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange and is one of the largest third party video game publishers in the world by revenue. Its portfolio includes some of the highest selling game franchises in history, including "Grand Theft Auto," "Red Dead Redemption," "Borderlands," "BioShock," "Civilization," and "NBA 2K."
The company has consistently taken an aggressive stance toward protecting its intellectual property and has a documented history of pursuing legal action against fan projects, modding tools, and reverse engineering efforts that involve its games without authorization.
Who Owns Rockstar Games?
Rockstar Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. The studio was founded in 1998 by Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King, and Gary Foreman, several of whom had previously worked at BMG Interactive. Rockstar's headquarters are in New York City, with major development studios located in Edinburgh, Lincoln, Leeds, Toronto, and San Diego.
The studio is best known for developing the "Grand Theft Auto" series and the "Red Dead Redemption" series, both of which are published through Take-Two. Rockstar's parent relationship with Take-Two means that intellectual property protections and enforcement decisions for its games fall under Take-Two's corporate and legal umbrella rather than being handled independently by Rockstar itself.
Is There No 'GTA V' in the Switch?
"Grand Theft Auto V" has never received an official release on any Nintendo platform, including the Nintendo Switch or the Nintendo Switch 2. The original game launched in 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and has since been ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Nintendo platforms have been excluded from all of those release waves.
Rockstar and Take-Two have never publicly explained the absence, though it is widely attributed to a combination of hardware limitations on older Switch models and business strategy decisions around where the game's audience is concentrated. The Nintendo Switch never received a version of "GTA V" through any official channel, making fan projects like this one the only way players have tried to bridge that gap.
Will 'GTA V' Arrive to the Switch?
There is no official confirmation or denial from Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive regarding "Grand Theft Auto V" coming to the Nintendo Switch 2. Fans have also raised the question of whether "Grand Theft Auto VI" could eventually arrive on Nintendo's newer console, but that too remains unanswered.
The Switch 2 is significantly more powerful than its predecessor, which removes some of the hardware barrier arguments that applied to the original Switch, but neither publisher has commented on whether either game is being considered for the platform. Given Take-Two's ongoing enforcement actions against unauthorized ports and the complete absence of any Grand Theft Auto title across any Nintendo platform to date, the arrival of either game on Switch 2 cannot be assumed based on available information.
