When the servers are down for GTA Online and Red Dead Online, you may get an error message stating that “game services are unavailable right now.” Unfortunately, this error doesn’t give you any clue as to why the servers are down or when they’re coming back online. Today, players are experiencing this error, not for technical reasons, but because Rockstar has shut down the two games to honor the legacy of George Floyd.
If you haven’t been on social media today, you may have missed the tweet from Rockstar stating that GTA Online and Red Dead Online will be down from 2-4 pm EDT in honor of George Floyd. You won’t receive any sort of message in-game alluding to that being the reason the servers are down, so you might think there might be an issue with the game. Fortunately, there are no technical issues, and you’ll be able to log back in at 4 pm EDT and play as normal.
Black Lives Matter. To honor the legacy of George Floyd, today, 6/4/20, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET, we will be shutting down access to our online games, Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) June 4, 2020
Other times you may see the “game services are unavailable right now” error when GTA Online or Red Dead Online are undergoing maintenance, or there’s an issue with the servers. Most of the time, the problem will be on Rockstar’s end, and the only fix is to remain patient and wait for the studio to solve the problem. If you suspect the problem might be on your side, you can try the usual fixes and see if that rectifies the issue:
- Check if your firewall is blocking GTA Online or Red Dead Online.
- Reboot your router.
- Reset your PC or console.
- Reboot your modem.
- Ensure you’re connected to the internet.
Other than the above, there’s not much you can do to fix this error on your end. Your best bet is to keep an eye on Rockstar’s support Twitter and wait for them to bring the servers back up.
