Horizon Forbidden West: Sony will now offer a free upgrade after U-turn

ByDavid Coulson Hours
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Last Updated on: 5th September 2021, 12:32 am

Horizon Forbidden West is one of the most highly anticipated games in Sony’s lineup, with the game originally set to release this year before being delayed until February 18th, 2022.

Sony recently came under fire after a blog post stated that no free upgrade from the PS4 to PS5 would be offered, instead, it would require gamers to rebuy the game on the next-gen system.

This came after the company had originally stated that the game would come with a free upgrade.

As expected, many gamers weren’t happy about this decision, with many citing Microsoft’s Xbox Smart Delivery allowing players to freely move between the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S without any further cost.

Now, Sony has made a U-turn and will now offer a free upgrade for Horizon Forbidden West.

In an update to the earlier blog post, Jim Ryan announced the change and what to expect from future titles.

“Thursday was to be a celebration of Horizon Forbidden West and the amazing team at Guerrilla working to deliver it on February 18, 2022. However, it’s abundantly clear that the offerings we confirmed in our pre-order kickoff missed the mark.

Last year we made a commitment to deliver free upgrades for our cross-gen launch titles, which included Horizon Forbidden West. While the pandemic’s profound impact pushed Forbidden West out of the launch window we initially envisioned, we will stand by our offer: Players who purchase Horizon Forbidden West on PlayStation 4 will be able to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version for free.

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.“

As expected, apart from Horizon Forbidden West, which seems like a goodwill gesture, future titles will require a $10 fee to upgrade to the PS5 version.

READ MORE: PlayStation Showcase announced by Sony to reveal Holiday 2021 titles

This makes sense because PS4 titles retail for up to $60, while PS5 games are now $70, so paying the extra $10 would bring the total cost in line with purchasing the PS5 version.

Otherwise, if free upgrades were offered, anyone could save $10 by simply purchasing the PS4 version, or they could just charge $60 for PS5 games, but what do I know.