PlayStation Plus owners have discovered that Sony plans to remove GTA 5 from its game catalogue, no doubt to ensure people are further encouraged to play its sequel.
Rockstar shouldn’t need to worry about not enough people playing GTA 6 at launch, even after the various leaks, considering how ‘unprecedented’ the pre-order figures reportedly are.
Yet the company and publisher Take-Two Interactive are doing what they can to ensure people are encouraged to play the new entry over its 2013 predecessor, GTA 5.
While they’re not so evil as to delist the game entirely, they are planning to have it removed from the PlayStation Plus catalogue just two days before GTA 6’s launch.
A notice, which encourages you to ‘take a trip to Los Santos’ while waiting for GTA 6, was spotted on the PlayStation Store and shared via Reddit.
GTA 5 is currently included with PlayStation Plus’ game catalogue, which you can access by subscribing to either the Extra or Premium tier. However, the notice warns that the game will no longer be available from November 17.
Want GTA 6 news?
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week.
What’s especially amusing about how blatant Rockstar is being, is that the notice also includes a prompt to pre-order GTA 6.
Again, the game will still be available to buy, but considering a month of PlayStation Plus Extra is only £11.99 compared to the £39.99 it costs to purchase digitally, Rockstar clearly wants to prevent people from accessing GTA 5 for ‘free.’
It wouldn’t be surprising if GTA 5 is added back to the catalogue at a later date, once the hype for GTA 6 wears down. It’s happened multiple times before with Xbox Game Pass, having left the service once again in April.
There’s arguably no reason for Rockstar to do this since diehard GTA fans will be dropping GTA 5 in favour of GTA 6 anyway. Plus, GTA 5 is also the best-selling traditional video game ever, so most people already own or will have played the game already.
As for those who haven’t played GTA 5, well, if they’ve felt no desire to do so in the past 13 years, they’re unlikely to change their minds now. Although we would be curious to see if it’s imminent removal encourages latecomers to see what the fuss is about.
Despite what the Reddit post claims, though, this isn’t the first time games have been removed from the PlayStation Plus catalogue.
Sony even has a ‘Last chance to play section’ in the PlayStation Plus tab to warn you of games that will be removed from the game catalogue as part of the monthly update.
This month’s selection includes Silent Hill 2, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and Jurassic World Evolution 2, which will be removed on October 20. Presumably, Sony will make an official statement about GTA 5’s removal in November.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.