GTA Online was the highly awaited final piece of the puzzle for the wildly popular GTA V. During its original release in 2013, Rockstar released several teases of GTA Online during their GTA V preview videos. The feature was finally released in 2015 with players all over the world heaping praises on the feature as an excellent multiplayer expansion to the game after the story was completed.
This model was so popular that Rockstar’s next massive hit, Red Dead Redemption 2, employed the same features in its game via Red Dead Online. Both of these games had their own charm and the online community echoed similar sentiments as they played through the games over the years.
While the online features for these games were available to access for free on platforms like PC, it was a different story on the PlayStation devices.
Enter PlayStation Plus
Despite being the only game to span three generations of consoles, with the game initially releasing on PlayStation 3, then being ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, the online features were only accessible to the latter two. After purchasing the game and registering your copy, you will then need to make an additional purchase to play this game.
This is where PlayStation Plus, or simply PS Plus, comes in.
PS Plus is a subscription service from PlayStation that allows players access to several exclusive features and games, consisting of hundreds of current and classic games from the last couple of decades.
GTA Online is one of the features tied into PS Plus and if you play online, you will need to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription.
But, in some cases, Sony makes this feature playable without needing an active subscription. Although this is not always possible, it happens often enough for players to notice.
Is it possible to play GTA Online without PlayStation Plus?
While this isn’t a permanent feature, in some cases, PlayStation gamers are allowed to access the GTA Online features for limited periods of time in between. This tends to happen as a result of an event or just as part of a free trial for a short period of time.
Once the trial period ends, however, so does the GTA Online experience. That is until you purchase or renew your PS Plus subscription.
As of right now, the online features do not work anymore without a PS Plus subscription, so if you want to play the game right now, the best thing to do would be to sign up for PlayStation Plus. The service can be purchased via three tiers of subscription.
- PlayStation Plus (1 month) – $9.99
- PlayStation Plus (3 months) – $24.99
- PlayStation Plus (12 months) – $59.99
Now would be a perfect time to start or resume your GTA Online journey with several new features added to the game as of late and more updates planned by Rockstar including several new weapons, vehicles, properties, heists, and new ways to earn money than ever before.