When Sony outlined its pre-order program for the highly anticipated Horizon Forbidden West, which includes some sweet collector's edition action, it re-enforced its next-gen policy of "if you make the transition from PS4 to PS5, upgrading those games will cost you a premium". In comparison to the Xbox strategy of "it's cool baby, here's the next-gen version for yo' fine self", well, you can imagine the response from fans.

Especially when it's still hard to get an actual for reals PS5 due to on-going hardware shortages. Anyhow, the response was vocal and definitive - upgrading the version of a game from PS4 to PS5 shouldn't cost extra.

So it was shouted across the socials, so it was heard from above. With Jim Ryan, President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment announcing in a statement that it messed up and that a free upgrade was coming to Horizon Forbidden West. But only to Horizon Forbidden West.

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.

It's a strange stance to take in that the issue and outcry was not limited to Horizon Forbidden West, there's an expectation (which Sony is a part of) that going from one console to another shouldn't mean having to buy the same game all over again. The whole "this time only" tone is, well, a tad Don Corleone.