GTA Online's Orbital Cannon Nerfed, But Players Have Mixed Feelings

The upcoming GTA Online Summer update, known as 'San Andreas Mercinaries', is planning to heavily nerf the Orbital Cannon, a tool that had become known for a glitch that allowed players to kill other players without consequence or cooldown.

Prior to the nerf, while players would have to spend $500,000 for every shot, those who abused the glitch could use the Orbital Cannon - which kills just about anything in GTA Online in an instant on impact - without cooldown, allowing players with a ton of cash to abuse the weapon.

The weapon is meant to have a 48-hour cooldown between shots, meaning that the problem was a glitch on Rockstar's end; however, the problem stayed in the game for months, creating issues for those who fell victim to repeated targeting.

LET'S FREAKING GOOO#GTAOnlinepic.twitter.com/NXFcA48B1j

— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) June 8, 2023

GTA Online's Orbital Cannon Nerfed

As announced in a Rockstar newswire post, the upcoming GTA Online update will patch the issue with the Orbital Cannon, requiring all players to wait the full 48 hours before firing it again. This will prevent players from spamming the cannon if they have the money to do so, effectively being able to kill anyone they like repeatedly.

The Orbital Cannon was added to Grand Theft Auto Online in the Doomsday Heist update back in 2017.  As we mentioned, the Orbital Cannon is an incredibly powerful tool, allowing its owner to target anyone on the map so long as they can afford the cost. The cannon will then kill the target immediately. 

With the tool having been in the game for so long, players expressed some strong opinions and feelings about the intended 48-hour cooldown finally being enforced for all players by way of Rockstar fixing the glitch.

One player mentioned that with the changes to the Explosive Cannon followed by this nerf, they believe the game is more balanced than it's been in years.

With the Explosive Cannon AND Orbital Cannon nerf, this will be the most balanced GTA Online has been for years...

Just the Godmode Glitches and Modders left to fix

— Istura (@IIstura) June 8, 2023

Still, a few players expressed their discontent with the changes in the Twitter thread, suggesting that not everyone is happy with the bug fixes, as you can see below:

pic.twitter.com/PJwzshfjZa

— DogManX (@DogManX31) June 8, 2023

NOO pic.twitter.com/pVDZKyURVf

— M A X (@MaxModz1382) June 8, 2023

That's about it for the changes to GTA Online's Orbital Cannon. While the community seems to have mixed feelings about the nerf and bug fixes, it's unlikely that Rockstar will revert this change, so players will have to come to terms with the 48-hour cooldown.

For more GTA Online news be sure to check out our dedicated section, or some of our Guides & Tutorials on the drop downs below: