Sony Backtracks on Questionable Business Practices

Last week Sony had players in shock with setting the PS5 version upgrade of Horizon Forbidden West at $79.99. Fans were going to be buying the game all over again, leaving the gaming community outraged at Sony’s business practices. However, it seems via Playstation Blog that Sony will be backtracking quite a bit on the decision.

Originally it was announced that Players would have two options to upgrade Horizon Forbidden West. These two options were for the Deluxe or the Collectors Edition of the game. Both upgrades were the full cost of the different versions. Not only is this outrageous but also a bit insensitive considering the pandemic and the scalpers. Obtaining the new console is still near impossible. While we know creating the upgraded versions of these games takes a lot of work, players should not be forced to buy a game twice.

Thankfully Jim Ryan addressed the outrage by announcing a new cost for upgrading. According to Jim, all new PS5 Upgrades will cost $10 instead of the full price. This will include physical and digital, as well as new titles releasing from Sony Interactive Entertainment such as God of War Ragnarok and Gran Turismo 7. This price seems better considering it takes a lot of work and games are essentially remade to create these upgrades. But also seems unfair given that competition offers a better deal.

This also shows how different Microsoft and Sony can be when it comes to business practices. Microsoft tends to offer much more for free in the gaming community. Game Pass offers many new games at top performance to players at only $5 per month. Any players that buy new games will get free upgrades and automatically thanks to Smart Delivery. Sony is also very successful and causes players to question what more they can offer.