Sony has confirmed that it will no longer offer free next-gen upgrades after Horizon Forbidden West (releasing on February 18, 2022) and players have to pay $10 instead to upgrade from PS4 to PS5 edition of future PlayStation exclusives or the first-party titles.
This happens after Sony announced last week that players with Digital Deluxe, Collector’s, or Regella Editions of Horizon Forbidden West could access the next-gen upgrade for free, but those with Standard and Special editions will have to pay for it. This news resulted in a huge backlash from fans, and after this Sony decided to reverse its decision stating “Players who purchase Horizon Forbidden West on PlayStation 4 will be able to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version for free,” in a blog post.
Well, it didn’t end here as in the same blog post, Sony’s Interactive president and CEO Jim Rayn, mentioning their future upgrade plans, confirmed that all upcoming PlayStation exclusives or first-party titles would be charging $10 to upgrade from PS4 to PS5 including Gran Turismo 7 and God of War.
“I also want to confirm today that moving forward, PlayStation first-party exclusive cross-gen titles (newly releasing on PS4 & PS5)–both digital and physical – will offer a $10 USD digital upgrade option from PS4 to PS5,” explained Ryan. “This will apply to the next God of War and Gran Turismo 7, and any other exclusive cross-gen PS4 & PS5 title published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.”
However, the players will be able to play PS4 version games on next-generation PS5 due to the backward compatibility feature of PS5 but need to pay for the upgrade.