While Sony usually announces the next set of free PlayStation Plus games on the last Wednesday of every month, it's doing things a little differently when it comes to the free PS Plus games for August 2021. At the latest PlayStation State of Play event, Sony decided to make a surprise announcement, confirming one of the free PS Plus games for August 2021, which turned out to be the Hunter's Arena: Legends battle royale game.

The Hunter's Arena: Legends battle royale is going to be available as a free download to all PS Plus subscribers regardless of if they're playing on PS4 or PS5. What's unclear at this point is if Hunter's Arena: Legends is taking up one of the free PS4 game slots or one of the free PS5 game slots. Typically, Sony gives away two free PS4 games and one PS5 game through PS Plus each month, with the occasional overlap. Even so, a game available on both consoles still counts as either one of the two free PS4 games or the free PS5 game.

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Until Sony announces the free PS Plus games for August 2021, it will remain unclear if Hunter's Arena: Legends is supposed to be the free PS5 game or one of the free PS4 games. But it really wouldn't be surprising if Hunter's Arena: Legends counts as the free PS5 PS Plus game for August 2021. After all, it would be continuing a trend that has held true since Sony launched the PlayStation 5 last year and started releasing free PS5 games through the service.

For the most part, Sony has stuck with a specific theme when it comes to the free PS5 PS Plus games: almost all of them have been new releases, making their PS Plus debut at the same time that they released for their console in the first place. Considering this, it seems highly likely that Hunter's Arena: Legends is the free PS5 PS Plus game for August 2021, though fans should still wait for some clarification on that.

• Bugsnax (November 2020)
• Worms Rumble (December 2020)
• Maneater (January 2021)
• Destruction AllStars (February 2021)
• Maquette (March 2021)
• Oddworld: Soulstorm (April 2021)
• Wreckfest (May 2021)
• Operation: Tango (June 2021)
• A Plague Tale: Innocence (July 2021)

When one looks at the free PS5 PS Plus game lineup, they'll see that Sony has stuck to this pattern for very nearly every PS5 game that has been added to the PlayStation Plus service. The only exception to the rule is Maneater, which hit PS Plus a couple of months after it launched. However, Sony actually offered PS Plus subscribers refunds if they already purchased the game, so it may have well have been a part of the program from the jump.

With A Plague Tale: Innocence being the free PS5 PS Plus game for July 2021, Sony has continued the pattern with the latest batch of free games. And even if Hunter's Arena: Legends is not one the PS5 PS Plus game for August 2021, one has to imagine that it will still be a new game.

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