Well Horizon Forbidden West seems to be going through a massive PR shift, as nearly three days ago we wrote that the PS4 users will not get a free upgrade, now it seems Sony is backtracking on this.

A few things have happened with Horizon Forbidden West and PlayStation 5 in terms of marketing. The reveal that the game will not be upgradeable free for PS4 users and would need to purchase the Deluxe edition to get the free upgrade, which seems to be a standard operating procedure with some of their first-party titles. Such as the recently released Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut and the upcoming Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

The issue is that Horizon Forbidden West was actually marketed as a title where the player will get the PS5 version, and suddenly when all the editions were announced with the game’s release date – you can see the complete list which we wrote about here – it suddenly became an extra ten dollars for customers.

The press and the gaming community was not happy that Sony seems to be going back on their commitment and marketing in such a sharp turn.

Well, after three days and loads of bad PR from outlets and Youtubers, Sony just updated their blog with regards to the release of Horizon Forbidden West with the following message:

“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”.

— Jim Ryan, President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment

With this announcement, though, Sony pretty much confirms that no further first-party titles will be eligible for a free upgrade, as the next God of War and Gran Turismo 7 will require the customer to purchase a higher tiered version of PS4 to play on PS5.

In the end, Sony could have avoided all of this if they would have stuck to their original messaging, rather than trying to think people would not remember their initial promise at the start of the generation. Hopefully, they will be better in their communications and not try to pull a fast one on customers in the future.

Source: PlayStation Blog