Both Grand Theft Auto 5 and PS Plus are currently in a weird space. GTA 5’s most recent Enhanced and Expanded trailer has been overwhelmed with dislikes, while the past two months have come short of the standard overall quality of PS Plus’ monthly offerings. And while the two may seem disconnected at first, the relationship between PS Plus and GTA 5 is something that has already been established.
Grand Theft Auto 5's new edition was expected to release on November 11 before the most recent trailer confirmed its delay into March 2022. No specific date was given, but at the very least, fans are left waiting an extra four months. Originally, Rockstar/GTA 5 and Sony/PS Plus had an agreement that would have made November 2022 a big month for all parties, but while the agreement stands, it seems that November may not be that big anymore.
PS Plus Offerings Are Dwindling in Final Months of 2021
As aforementioned, the August and September free PS Plus games have been lackluster compared to previous months. That’s not to say the offerings themselves are bad, but that the appeal and variety made by the service are not really seen in these offerings. This means a lot rides on October: if it’s another lackluster month, fans will likely need to lower expectations for a few months until Sony gets the hype train going again.
And this seems likely because there’s nothing releasing between now and 2022 that hits the requisites for Sony’s PS Plus games. Its smaller games that it could highlight can already be pre-ordered, which rules them out of PS Plus selection, and its bigger games don’t release on the first Tuesday of the month. In other words, the well that provides for PS Plus' free games has run dry, and GTA 5’s delay doesn’t help that.
GTA 5 Would Have Been a Big PS Plus Perk in November 2021
Sony and Rockstar Games’ agreement still stands in the lead-up to GTA 5’s Expanded and Enhanced edition, with players getting a free GTA $1 million every month until then. But, come November, the original plan would have seen PS5 owners get the standalone version of GTA Online for free. The standalone version of the game is releasing around the same time as the base GTA 5 Enhanced and Expanded edition, and it seems PS Plus may not have been necessary to claim it, just to play it.
The wording around the announcement was unclear, and a release of November 11 wouldn’t fit into normal PS Plus parameters. It could have been that GTA Online was going to be released early ahead of GTA 5 itself, which isn’t necessarily unheard of, and it could have been a PS Plus game. Even if it wasn’t, PS Plus is required to play online games like GTA 5, so the two went hand in hand regardless.
If PS Plus had a normal month in November, as well as a free-for-all release of GTA Online, that would have been a big statement from both companies. Perhaps GTA 5 will actually confirm its March 2022 release date as March 1, with that making it clearly a PS Plus game.
No matter what, though, the fact remains that GTA 5 had some relationship with PS Plus, and if it originally released in November, that would have ensured a strong month for PS Plus, regardless of how it was offered on the Sony platform. Now, that’s delayed into March, and Sony doesn’t have the reservoir of available games to keep PS Plus on the same pattern it’s been on since the PS5 launched. GTA 5’s delay weakened PS Plus’ benefits for this year, if nothing else.
Grand Theft Auto 5: Enhanced and Expanded releases for PS5 and Xbox Series X in March 2022.
