Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is now free with Rockstar Games PC launcher

(Image credit: Rockstar)

Ready for another icon to grace your gaming PC's already-cluttered desktop? Rockstar has revealed the Rockstar Games Launcher, the new home for the Grand Theft Auto titan's titles on PC.

It's a pretty straightforward piece of software – you can buy a large selection of Rockstar's games from the launcher, and then use it to fire them up too. If you've used Blizzard's Battle.net launcher for World of Warcraft Classic, Starcraft and Diablo, you'll know what to expect.

As well as letting you purchase games outright, the Rockstar Games Launcher will also scan your PC for Rockstar titles you already own through other storefronts, such as Steam. Once it's found them, it can be used to play those too, with a "Play on Steam" button appearing that, you guessed it, fires up the Steam launcher to play through.

Cowboys and freebies

For the time being the launcher seems exclusive to PC, rather than Mac, gamers, with the launcher also catering for cloud save files and automatic game updates. And, right now at least, it's limited to the more recent Rockstar games and remastered editions, meaning the likes of Manhunt and the top-down GTA games are absent.

Still, there's a sweetener to encourage you to download the launcher – you can claim a free download of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for "a limited time" if you install soon.

While having yet another launcher is a pain for PC gamers who are already jumping between Steam, EA's Origin, Ubisoft's UPlay, the Epic Games Store and countless others, there's a little light glimmering at the end of this tunnel. Could the launch of the Rockstar Games Launcher mean that the Red Dead Redemption 2 PC version is finally nearing an unveiling? We can only hope.

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Gerald Lynch

Gerald is Editor-in-Chief of iMore.com. Previously he was the Executive Editor for TechRadar, taking care of the site's home cinema, gaming, smart home, entertainment and audio output. He loves gaming, but don't expect him to play with you unless your console is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. Before TechRadar, Gerald was Editor of Gizmodo UK. He is also the author of 'Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future', published by Aurum Press.