A major scandal has erupted online surrounding the FiveM platform for GTA Online. According to a recent report, the acquisition of Cfx—FiveM's parent company—by Rockstar in 2023 was fraught with internal conflicts and even allegations of corporate espionage.
On February 18, FiveM published an extensive exposé on the behind-the-scenes drama at Cfx, the team behind popular GTA Online RP servers. According to the author, the acquisition was anything but smooth. In 2015, Rockstar launched an aggressive campaign against Cfx, banning developers and accusing them of facilitating piracy. Despite legal battles, FiveM managed to grow into a large-scale platform supporting servers with hundreds of players.
In the early 2020s, lead developer NTAuthority decided to expand the team. Over time, internal conflicts turned into what was described as a "management disaster," with many employees neglecting their responsibilities and disregarding NTAuthority’s leadership.
Later, a faction within the team known as the Groot Gang formed, aiming to oust NTAuthority. In 2022, a Cfx member under the alias Deltanic reportedly began secretly communicating with Rockstar and negotiating the sale of FiveM. He also allegedly leaked personal information about NTAuthority and other team members. Eventually, Groot Gang convinced NTAuthority to agree to the sale, then pushed him out of the project and took over leadership roles. The report claims that the deal earned NTAuthority an amount equivalent to 20 months of FiveM's revenue.
Ethan Hirsch from Rockstar also played a key role in the sale, allegedly helping Groot Gang remove the original developers and integrate members from a competing project, alt:V. These individuals are rumored to be responsible for the GTA 5 source code leak in 2023.
According to the exposé, FiveM is now in its worst technical state. The new team reportedly ignores bug reports and critical exploits, raising concerns that FiveM may shut down in the near future, with Rockstar’s official ROME platform taking its place.