Rockstar Releases GTA Freebie, Second Delay Olive Branch Confirmed

Rockstar Games upset a lot of gamers last week when it delayed GTA VI for a second time.

We totally get it, sometimes a delay is just necessary to deliver a quality title and that was exactly Rockstar’s reasoning, more time to polish the experience and deliver a Grand Theft Auto game fans will adore.

That said it still stung, so almost as some sort of apology Rockstar has announced GTA V’s online mode will be free for Xbox and PlayStation users for a limited time.

Rockstar invites players who haven’t already to “experience the dynamic and ever-evolving online universe where you can rise from street-level hustler to kingpin of your own criminal empire.”

GTA V: Online is playable for free right now, until 17 November before it’s locked behind its prior paywall. No Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus is required to access the online mode, it’s available for everyone.

It’s a nice gesture but what has it done to quell the frenzy of fans disappointed in the second delay? Not a whole lot unfortunately, but some are sympathetic.

As I said before, sometimes a delay is essential for a game’s success. Cyberpunk 2077 launched far too soon and severely paid the price, an obviously Rockstar doesn’t want to find itself in a similar situation to CD Projekt Red.

Most fans understand this and took the time to say as much in the studio’s recent post about GTA V: Online.

Rockstar Games

“Take your time guys, I’d rather play a finished game than a broken one” read one of the comments.

Others were more critical, after all the best way to make up for the second delay would be to drop another trailer like it did last time, but at the time of writing nothing has been shown yet.

“Thank you for making the game that’s been out for 10 plus years free you’re really out here” read one comment, and another continued “‘Play GTA Online for free on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, now thru 19th November 2026’ Fixed it for you Rockstar you’re welcome."

Patience is clearly running out, and it was in pretty short supply even before the delay as every post Rockstar made always came back to something related to GTA VI.

With the game now over a year away, again, we desperately need that third trailer, so hopefully one drops later this month or sometime in December.