Can You Switch Back and Forth Between Old and New Gen GTA?

The short answer is no – the transfer from PS4/Xbox One to PS5/Series X|S is designed as a one-way permanent copy. Your old gen progress is erased. However, by using backups or starting over, you can return to old gen consoles and play with friends who haven‘t upgraded.

As a hardcore GTA online player myself, losing access to old gen was initially frustrating. Many of my crew were still on PS4 – I didn‘t want to lose our co-op progress or leave them behind.

Luckily, after digging into the transfer details I found some decent workarounds…

Reverting Back to Old Gen Consoles

Once you transfer from old gen to new gen, you can‘t freely swap backwards on the same account. Your old gen profile is deleted. However, players that care about preserving progress have two options:

1. Restore a Backed Up Save

Before uploading your character for the first time, manually back up your save game data either locally or to the cloud. I would recommend PlayStation Plus cloud saves or an external HDD.

This prep work gives you an "old gen snapshot" to fall back on if ever needed.

To restore it, download the backup save to your old gen console after completing the new gen transfer:

• PlayStation – Download cloud backup save from PlayStation Plus storage
• Xbox – Copy backed up profile from external media back onto console

You‘ll pick up right where you left off!

2. Start Fresh with a New Character

Without an old gen backup, the nuclear option is available – create a brand new GTA online character on old gen hardware post-transfer.

You‘ll lose all existing progress, but can enjoy the core story and multiplayer modes again. Plus join sessions with friends who don‘t own new consoles yet.

As GTA 6 speculation builds, I think we‘ll see a bigger split in the player base between old and new hardware. Rockstar may eventually enable two-way transfer to avoid fragmentation. But for now, these are the approved ways to re-access old gen.

What About Cross-Gen Multiplayer?

Playing with friends is a big reason we stick to favorite games for so long. So what about mixing generations in the same session?

• Xbox Series X|S – Supports backward compatibility with Xbox One
• PlayStation 5 – No backward compatibility with PS4

I confirm this regularly within my own crews – we coordinate who needs to stay on old systems to keep sessions unified.

Microsoft smartly enabled backward compatibility in many titles. Though as the statistics show, the focus shifts quickly to true next-gen experiences:

Within a year on the market, the next-gen console user bases already rival their predecessors. Proof why Rockstar targets these platforms specifically with GTA V‘s latest upgrades.

In my view, the cross-gen experience feels disjointed in some games anyway – next-gen just delivers higher fidelity, faster load times, and heightened immersion. So focusing resources here aligns to where the fan base is heading.

Hope this gives you the complete picture! Let me know if other transfer scenarios need testing.