GTA V is the most successful commercial game ever released, selling more than 135 million copies throughout its more than seven year run. Five million of those were sold in the first quarter of 2020, showing what a little lockdown and a free giveaway promotion can do to drum up interest in such an old game. Still, Take Two shows no sign of easing off on the promotion of its biggest cashcow and will rerelease GTA V once again on the next-generation consoles, the PS5 and Xbox Series X, starting with a free, standalone version of GTA Online on the PS5.
The rest of the GTA V experience will debut on the new-generation systems in the second half of 2021, so there will be a bit of a wait if you plan to work your way through the story (again) with some new graphical effects to play with. For some it will feel like a new experience, though, especially if you first played the game on your Xbox 360. GTA V on the new-gen systems will include a number of technical and visual improvements, as well as performance enhancements that help leverage the power of the consoles and their new CPU/GPU APUs.
As part of its standalone release, GTA Online will be free for the first three months after launch and leading up to it, PS Plus subscribers will get a million GTA Dollars a month to enjoy.
Fans have had a mixed reaction to this news, with some happy that they'll be able to continue their online antics on a new generation of consoles and will be able to play with their old friends in the same way they have for years, but just with a prettier game to look at. Others lament the fact that Rockstar seems mostly content to milk its biggest cashcow instead of developing a new entry in the series.