Pre-orders for Horizon Forbidden West is now available on PS Store Asia, but for some reason, there’s one odd thing that is happening to the PS4 and PS5 open-world game coming this February.
There’s no way for you to upgrade the PS4 version to the PS5. Plus, the PS5 version does not include the PS4 version.
For Horizon Forbidden West, this is not an option if you’re paying for the standard edition (priced at RM249 on PS4 and RM299 on PS5). There is no paid upgrade path like we’ve seen in Ghost Of Tsushima: Director’s Cut. You have to pay for the more expensive editions instead.
The FAQ for Horizon Forbidden West says this:
“To access both the PS4 and PS5 versions of Horizon Forbidden West, you need to purchase the Digital Deluxe, Collector’s, or Regalla Editions. Dual entitlement does not apply to the Standard and Special Editions.”
The Digital Deluxe Edition is priced at RM339, which also includes a digital soundtrack, a digital art book, a digital comic book, and these in-game items:
- Two Carja Behemoth Elite items
- Two Nora Thunder Elite items
- Machine Strike piece
- In-game resources pack
(Interestingly, the FAQ explains the “Strike piece” is a piece for the mini-game Strike, a board game you can play within the game where you challenge different NPCs to a match. This is a whole new feature, being revealed as a pre-order bonus and a FAQ page.)
What this means is that if you’re planning to upgrade to a PS5 soon, but want to play Horizon Forbidden West first on PS4, you have to pay up for the Deluxe Edition, which is much more expensive than buying a standard edition of the PS5 version.
If you don’t do that, you’ll be stuck with the PS4 version, which is still playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility, but missing all the bells and whistles of the native PS5 version like the DualSense haptic feedback.
That’s no good.
The bonuses included in the Digital Deluxe edition seems substantial enough, but not everyone cares about getting a digital art book. And holding the PS5 version upgrade behind the Digital Deluxe edition instead of providing a simpler path to upgrade is just bad.
If you thought Sony not providing a free next-gen upgrade is already bad, this is worse. You have to pay even more than the equivalent value of a PS5 version’s retail price, which Sony insists to be RM299 now.
This shouldn’t be an issue for PS5 owners already, but if you’re a fan of PlayStation who is still stuck with a PS4, this is not good news.
Usually, games offer a free next-gen upgrade for these cross-gen games, so you can play on the PS4 and later on the PS5 when you finally got your hands on the limited-stock new console. This also allows players who already own a PS5 an option to access the last-gen version with no additional cost.
This is especially true on the Xbox platform. With Smart Delivery, you can expect to be charged only once and own the game for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Free next-gen upgrades are a built-in system over there.
More Sony first-party games will be coming to the PS4, but expect a lot of more friction (and possibly extra payment) if you want to play it on your PS4 first if this is any indication.