When it comes to the free PlayStation Plus games, Sony typically sticks closely to its established pattern. On the last Wednesday of every month, Sony announces the next batch of free PS Plus games for the following month, with those titles actually hitting the service on the following Tuesday. For example, Sony pulled the curtain back on the free PS Plus games for August 2021 on Wednesday, July 28, and the games will actually be available for subscribers to download starting Tuesday, August 3.

Sometimes Sony breaks from this pattern and announces the free PS Plus games early, though only on very rare occasions. So far it's mostly done this when it comes to the free PS5 PS Plus games, as was the case with Destruction AllStars, Oddworld: Soulstorm, and the latest example, the Hunter's Arena: Legends battle royale game. While Destruction AllStars was confirmed as a free PS Plus game months in advance of its release, players only knew about Oddworld and Hunter's Arena about a month ahead of time.

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Since Sony very rarely deviates from how it reveals free PS Plus games, some may be surprised to learn that we potentially already know of one of the free PS Plus games for November 2021. However, it's not a completely cut and dry case, and it's entirely possible that what some think is a free PS Plus game for November 2021 doesn't actually "count" as one of the free titles for that month.

Sony kicked off its Future of Gaming presentation last year with the reveal that both Grand Theft Auto 5 and its online component, Grand Theft Auto Online, would be making their way to PlayStation 5. The original plan was for the PS5 version of Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online to be out already, but the projects were eventually pushed back and are now releasing on PS5 on November 11.

When Sony announced the Grand Theft Auto 5 PS5 port, the reveal included some exclusive perks for PlayStation gamers. One of the perks was getting the standalone release of Grand Theft Auto Online for free on PS5, and the other was PS4 gamers getting a free $1 million per month for every month between the Future of Gaming showcase and the launch of GTA Online on the PlayStation 5.

Now, the wording of this is a bit confusing. It seems that every PS5 owner is going to get Grand Theft Auto Online for free at launch, regardless of if they're subscribed to PlayStation Plus. However, GTA Online is literally unplayable with PlayStation Plus. Like most other online PlayStation games, a PS Plus subscription is required to actually play Grand Theft Auto Online, so it still effectively requires a subscription.

Considering this, it's possible that Grand Theft Auto Online is being positioned as the free PS Plus game for November 2021, serving as the PS5 offering for that month. However, it's also possible that it's just being pushed as a bonus freebie. After all, it doesn't say that people have to be subscribed to PlayStation Plus to claim Grand Theft Auto Online, just that they need a subscription to play it.

Something that really works against GTA Online counting as one of the free PS Plus games for November 2021 is its release date. The Grand Theft Auto Online PS5 release date isn't until November 11, and the free PS Plus games will almost certainly be added on Tuesday, November 2. This seemingly throws it out of contention completely, though there is some precedence for Sony releasing a free PS Plus game at a different time in the month.

This has happened once before on PS5 with Bugsnax, though that is a special situation. Bugsnax was the first free PS5 PS Plus game ever, and the reason it was added to the service later in the month is because the PS5 itself hadn't even been released yet. Since that doesn't apply to GTA Online, it seems safe to say that the free PS Plus games for November 2021 will consist of three different titles entirely.

What this means is that PlayStation Plus subscribers ultimately have a lot to look forward to once November 2021 rolls around. Unless there's some kind of swerve and GTA Online does count as one of the free PS Plus games, subscribers can look forward to not only playing the next-gen version of it, but trying out the other free PS Plus games released that month as well. They haven't been announced yet of course, but they will almost certainly consist of two PS4 games and one PS5 game.

In the meantime, subscribers can still claim the free PS Plus games for July 2021 at the time of this writing and can look forward to the free PS Plus games for August 2021 joining the service on Tuesday, August 3.

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