As Heists Arrive, GTA Online Experiencing Server Issues

[UPDATE 2] Heists are now back up and running.

[UPDATE] Rockstar Games has passed along a statement addressing GTA Online's issues.

"We are aware of some issues today with players having problems connecting to GTA Online, as well as issues with the Xbox Live service," a representative said. "We are working to restore full access to GTA Online as quickly as possible. In the meantime, players can monitor the performance of all platforms on our GTA Online status page, located here."

The original story is below.

The release of Grand Theft Auto V's long-awaited online Heists mode today hasn't gone entirely smoothly. Fans are widely reporting connectivity issues that are, in some cases, preventing them from forming a crew and taking on some of the new four-person Heist jobs available in GTA Online.

GameSpot attempted to form a four-person crew to take on a Heist job, but was unable to get all players into a party at the same time to start the mission. Eventually, it worked, but clearly GTA Online is experiencing some teething problems.

We've been able to connect to GTA Online just fine, but accessing and completing Heists has been particularly problematic.

Players are reporting GTA Online issues across all platforms. For its part, Microsoft has issued a service alert for Xbox 360, notifying users of connectivity problems.

Server woes are nothing new for GTA Online. When the mode launched in October, it faced widespread issues. These have been largely corrected, and Rockstar Games even thanked players with free in-game currency and more for their troubles.

GameSpot will continue to monitor GTA Online's status, updating this post with new information as it becomes available. We've also reached out to Rockstar, asking for further insight into what might be going wrong and when a fix will be deployed.

For now, if you're experiencing technical troubles, you can visit the GTA Online support page.