GTA 5 Runs in Browser Thanks to AI, But Gets Shut Down Amid Wave of AI-Generated Games

Grand Theft Auto 5 was briefly playable in a web browser before being taken offline, part of a surge of AI-created games appearing across the internet.

Footage of GTA 5 running in a browser circulated on social media yesterday, but the website hosting it is now down, with reports that Cloudflare intervened.

This comes after Bethesda issued a cease and desist last week to stop the AI-generated Fallout: New York fan project, which was also playable via a PC browser. That game was built by Claude Opus 5.5, and it appears the PC version of GTA 5 was compiled in a similar way.

GTA 5 is now playable on web browser Here I am playing GTA 5 on chrome https://t.co/W7L7qfuI2Z

The owner of the GTA 5 browser site is now asking "Who wants the source code?" https://t.co/pEs6lLSXhP

Last week, IGN reported on the original Xbox version of Halo: Combat Evolved being made playable in a web browser. This isn't a port of Bungie's classic 2001 first-person shooter; it's the original Xbox game running in your browser.

There's no denying the popularity of these AI-built clones or derivative games, with images and gameplay videos widely shared on social media and fans expressing amazement. But franchise owners like Rockstar and Bethesda will likely view this as piracy—especially in the case of GTA 5's port.

Still, it's unclear how the rapid advancement of AI will be curbed—or how AI-generated versions of popular games will be regulated in the future, beyond publishers playing whack-a-mole as new examples keep popping up.

AI is making the traditionally painstaking process of reverse-engineering and recompilation much faster, leading some to wonder about the future of commercial game development. Why buy a Switch 2 if you can have AI generate a clone of a Nintendo exclusive for free in your browser?

Others, however, point out that none of these "game-merging" mods or clones show any creativity or introduce new ideas; they simply take existing popular games and either mash them together or replicate what's already playable better elsewhere.

The question for Rockstar and parent company Take-Two now is: how long until GTA 6 is made playable in a browser, and what can they do to stop it?