Horizon Forbidden West will get free PS4-to-PS5 upgrade after all

Customers who purchase Horizon Forbidden West on PlayStation 4 will also get the PlayStation 5 version for free, regardless of the version they buy, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Saturday. That’s a change from the plan Sony and developer Guerrilla Games announced Thursday, which only offered dual-platform entitlements for Horizon Forbidden West (for PS4 and PS5) if customers bought the $79.99 Digital Deluxe edition or a more expensive edition of the game. There was no upgrade path from PS4 to PS5 at the time.

SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan announced the change in an update posted to Sony’s PlayStation Blog, saying “it’s abundantly clear that the offerings we confirmed in our pre-order kickoff missed the mark.”

Last year, Ryan indicated in an interview with the Washington Post that “we have an upgrade path for PS4 users to get the PS5 versions for free.” According to Ryan’s statement on the PlayStation Blog, that offer was intended to be limited to cross-generation launch titles appearing on PS5.

From Ryan’s statement:

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.

Sony noted that upgrading a PS4 version of a cross-gen game to a digital version of that game on PlayStation 5 will require a PS5 console with a disc drive.

Horizon Forbidden West will launch on PS4 and PS5 on Feb. 18, 2024.