One year after Netflix brought Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy to its growing mobile-gaming library, two of those games are set to leave the service. Netflix has warned users that they will only have until December 13 to play Grand Theft Auto 3 – The Definitive Edition and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition.
While GTA 3 and Vice City are both set to leave the service, it seems like San Andreas is staying on Netflix for a while longer, with the game not displaying the same “Leaving Soon” card as the other two. According to What’s On Netflix, the GTA games were some of the most downloaded in Netflix’s library, with San Andreas easily the most popular of the three.
The GTA Trilogy’s exclusive Netflix mobile release was based on Grove Street Games’ remasters for console and PC, but included a number of extra quality-of-life improvements, including a popular “Classic Lighting” mode. Their removal from Netflix comes just after the console and PC remasters received a major update, which added the Classic Lighting mode and other improvements from the mobile editions.
Netflix subscribers who want to continue playing the mobile versions of GTA 3 and Vice City after December 13 will have to purchase the games outright from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store.
While movie and TV titles cycle on and off Netflix all the time, this is the first major removal for Netflix’s game catalogue, and suggests that not all the titles in the gaming library are there to stay. “Just like with series and film, games will be removed from Netflix as licenses expire,” a Netflix representative confirmed. “Players will notice a ‘Leaving Soon’ badge and be notified by the app itself well in advance of removal.”