We're Waving Goodbye To GTA V On Game Pass
There's another casualty of the Xbox Game Pass, with Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto franchise the latest to part way with the popular subscription service. It's been a huge week for GTA V, and while the record-breaking game has celebrated 150 million copies sold - as well as become the best-selling title of the decade in the USA - it's about to pulled from the Game Pass.
As subscription services go, the Game Pass has it licked. Offering the best of both worlds, the monthly or yearly subscription to the Xbox back catalogue has offered up some major titles. At a time Sony is haemorrhaging PlayStation now subscribers, Game Pass looks like it is pulling ahead...or is it?
Why is GTA V leaving Game Pass?
GTA V is officially leaving Game Pass tomorrow (August 8). While we can rejoice that the award-winning Hades is being added to Game Pass on August 13, is Supergiant's dungeon crawler big enough to fill that San Andreas-shaped hole in our lives?
Game Pass is known for churning out a variety of legacy games alongside day-one releases. Things recently took a massive upturn thanks to a tonne of Bethesda games landing on the service, however, Game Pass is far from a perfect model.
Microsoft hasn't given a reason why GTA V is leaving Game Pass, but it could have something to do with Take-Two Interactive's boss confirming he has no love for subscription services for games. CEO Strauss Zelnick said he wouldn't be his acclaimed roster of games to a Take-Two service any time soon. It's a sad turn of events - especially considering GTA V only arrived on Game Pass in April.
Will GTA V return to Game Pass?
Sadly, GTA V isn't alone in its Game Pass exile. Even though it's the first to go on August 8, it's being followed by some other big game on August 15. If you're currently a Game Pass owner, watch out for the following also leaving the service:
- Ape Out (PC)
- Crossing Souls (PC)
- Darksiders Genesis (Cloud, Console, PC)
- Don’t Starve (Cloud, Console, PC)
- Final Fantasy VII (Console, PC)
- Train Sim World 2020 (Cloud, Console, PC)
Rockstar is no stranger to short-lived Game Pass ventures. In 2020, the equally impressive Red Dead Redemption 2 spent just four months there before it was sent off into the sunset on a trusty steed. There's a chance that other Rockstar titles could appear on Game Pass in the future, but it looks increasingly unlikely.
It's easy to forget GTA V has been on and off Game Pass in the past. However, with all the latest updates - and players rightly looking ahead at GTA 6 - this could be the end of the tarmac for Game Pass subscribers who love the open-world juggernaut that is GTA V. Well, it's been a good run.
