Grand Theft Auto 5 has made a remarkable return to prominence on Steam, securing not one, but two spots in the top 10 most played games.  This unprecedented achievement comes on the heels of the release of its Enhanced Edition, a substantial upgrade that breathes new life into the twelve-year-old title.

The Enhanced Edition, launched on March 4th for PC following its 2022 release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, offers a wealth of graphical enhancements and new content.  PC players received this upgrade free of charge, distinguishing it from the paid upgrade path for console owners.

With the arrival of the Enhanced Edition, Grand Theft Auto 5 is effectively available in two versions on Steam: the original and the upgraded Enhanced Edition.  This division has led to a unique situation where both versions are concurrently popular enough to rank within Steam's top 10 most played games.  According to SteamDB, the Enhanced Edition boasted over 152,000 concurrent players shortly after release, placing it seventh overall, while the Legacy Edition maintained a strong player base of over 113,000, securing the tenth spot.

While the Enhanced Edition currently commands a higher concurrent player count, it still has ground to cover to surpass the original version's all-time peak of over 364,000 players, recorded in 2015. The Enhanced Edition peaked at over 187,000 concurrent players upon its release.  Whether it will eventually break this long-standing record remains to be seen.

Despite its strong launch, the Enhanced Edition's release has not been entirely smooth.  Some players who upgraded encountered an unexpected issue involving in-game purchases.  A free car offered as part of the Enhanced Edition release was mistakenly charging players nearly 2,000,000 GTA$ upon redemption. While Rockstar Games appears to be actively refunding affected players who contact their support team, the incident highlights some unforeseen challenges accompanying the update.