One of the very best PS2 games of all time — and one of the best video games of all time, across all platforms and all eras — is free right now with some tiers of PlayStation Plus, but this is changing soon. Recently, Sony announced nine different games set to leave the PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium libraries in the middle of December. Thankfully, most of the games are not very notable, but one, in particular, is. And for those who grew up on the PS2, it is going to be a painful subtraction.
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More specifically, on December 16, PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium subscribers across PS4 and PS5 will lose their free access to Grand Theft Auto 3: The Definitive Edition. What makes this even worse is the fact that Grand Theft Auto 3: The Definitive Edition is not available for individual purchase on the PlayStation Store, but is rather locked behind a purchase of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, a $60 package that also includes remasters of GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas. Of course, it is possible the PS2 classic will return to PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium in the future, as it is a timeless classic that will always be a popular inclusion, but when this does happen, the gap between a PS Plus game being removed and returning is usually a very large one.
About the Game
The original Grand Theft Auto 3 needs little introduction. The 2001 release from Rockstar Games is one of the best-selling PS2 games of all time, putting Grand Theft Auto on the map, and putting Rockstar Games on the map. It is not the best GTA game by modern standards, but it is a milestone release and is responsible for everything that followed it. With a 97 on Metacritic is also one of the highest-rated games of all time. And while it doesn’t hold up in 2025 as much as Vice City or San Andreas, the other games in the trilogy, this doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold up at all. Because it does, especially if you played it back in the day, because then the nostalgia smooths over the rougher edges. That said, this isn’t even the original, but the “Definitive Edition,” a remaster in 2021 that modernizes the experience and makes it even more enjoyable in 2025.
As always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think, or join the conversation over on the ComicBook Forum. Will you be cramming in GTA 3 before it leaves PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium?
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