PlayStation Plus new free game is a 'repeat' of a 2016 freebie

PlayStation Plus appears to have repeated itself for the first time since the service launched back in 2010, though fortunately it isn't having an impact on everyone.

I'd be lying if I said it had been a good year for PlayStation Plus. A cheeky price increase did not go down well, with many fans insisting the free games released as part of the service since the price increase have done little to justify forking out more October 2023's free games - The Callisto Protocol, Farming Simulator 22, and Weird West - weren't the most popular, and there hasn't been much excitement for November, either.

Now, as spotted on the PlayStation Plus subreddit, it would appear that certain subscribers are getting a repeat of a 2016 free game.

PlayStation Plus users in the Middle-East are getting construction sim Tropico 5 as a free game instead of the Mafia 2 remaster, which itself isn't exactly the most well-received freebie PlayStation Plus has ever sent our way.

The issue with Tropico 5, aside from being a game that came out in 2014 that isn't even the most recent entry in its series, is that PlayStation Plus users got this one in May 2016. This is, as far as we can tell, the first time PlayStation Plus has ever repeated a game.

“Literally since the price increased the quality has dropped dramatically! What the hell is going on? The new games are worse than the ones on PSNow,” one subscriber in r/PlayStationPlus complained.

Such a trash line up”, another wrote. “At this point I’m pretty convinced they must book contracts for these games ages ago and these are leftovers they had to squeeze out before maybe better ones they have planned for Dec / Jan when people are getting a new PS5 so they buy the service.”