Rockstar Games released an updated version of Grand Theft Auto V for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in March 2022, nine years after the game first came out. But the two console makers offered different deals to get you to download it.

If you owned a PS5, you could get GTA V for free between March and June 2022. Xbox Series X|S owners didn't get that free offer—they got a discount on the purchase price instead. This difference was part of a deal Sony and Rockstar made separately, and it's typical of how console companies try to attract players to their platform.

If you already owned GTA V on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One through digital download, you could move your version to the newer consoles without paying again. Your game progress came with you too. This was important because millions of people played GTA Online on the older hardware, especially those who had invested time building up their character and accumulating in-game money. They didn't have to start over from scratch.

GTA V has lived an unusually long life. It first launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2013. Then it came out again on PS4 and Xbox One in 2014. Now, in 2022, it arrived on the newest generation of consoles. That's three generations of hardware for one game—something most games never achieve. The free offer for PS5 was a business move: it brought more players into GTA Online on PlayStation, which is where Rockstar makes its ongoing money from the game.

What did the new version actually do differently? The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions ran faster and looked better. Load times dropped dramatically because of the speedy storage in these new consoles. The frame rate—how smooth the action looked on your screen—went up. Textures and shadows were more detailed. Some areas of the game also got ray tracing, a technique that makes light and reflections look more realistic. These changes weren't just prettier; they actually changed how the game played and felt.

The upgrade system helped solve a common problem when people buy new consoles. If you had bought GTA V as a digital file on PS4 or Xbox One, moving to the next generation was simple. You didn't lose anything. For people who bought physical discs, it was a bit different—it depended on whether their new console had a disc player, though the PS5 disc version did.