Underestimating the power of the players can be a risky thing, even for big companies. Sony Interactive Entertainment has been immersed in a huge controversy that started a few days ago when they announced that players who own Horizon Forbidden West on PlayStation 4 would have to pay to upgrade the game to the PlayStation 5 version. Developer Guerrilla Games and Sony announced it last week, and the players' response regarding this matter has been so overwhelming that they have been forced to backpedal. Still, let's get to the facts that have led to the current situation.
How it all started
Last Thursday, Guerrilla Games announced that only the owners of the Horizon Forbidden West Digital Deluxe Edition were going to be entitled to play both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game. The announcement came as part of a reveal of the different pre-order editions of Horizon Forbidden West that we covered in a previous article. The problem is that the Digital Deluxe Edition is much more expensive than the base game. Therefore they were making you pay extra to play the game on PS5 if you decided to purchase the PS4 version of the base game and intended to play it on PS5 in the future.
Of course, the announcement was received with a huge wave of complaints coming from the fans of Horizon Zero Dawn. It was hard for them to understand this sudden change in the standard policy that most companies have applied to their games since the next-gen consoles appeared.
Sony yields to the complaints
Moving fast forward a few days, Sony has yielded to the pressure and Jim Ryan, Sony Interactive Entertainment President & CEO, has tackled the controversy. In a statement, he acknowledges that their original decision was an error and confirms that upgrading Horizon Forbidden West to the next-gen version will be free. It's a victory for the fans of the series, at least this time.
Consequences
There is more than all this to Jim Ryan's statement. It has also served to announce that they will be charging an additional fee for the next-gen upgrade for other games in the future.
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. 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.
We will only know if Sony will modify this policy again when the time comes, but it's pretty likely that it won't happen. Therefore, to follow Aloy's adventures in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by machines, you should compare prices for Horizon Zero Dawn and save as much as possible. If you enjoy the first game, you will be able to buy Horizon Forbidden West cheap thanks to our comparator.
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