Horizon Forbidden West's Free Upgrade Means You Shouldn't Buy The Standard PS5 Version

Last week, Sony officially opened up preorders for Horizon Forbidden West ahead of the game's release on PS4 and PS5 in February next year. Curiously it was bound to be the first exclusive from Sony without a PS4-to-PS5 upgrade path, forcing you to purchase the $80 Digital Deluxe edition if you needed both. Sony has since reversed that decision, which has inadvertently made the PS5 version of the game a less sensible purchase, especially if you're buying digitally.

Right now, the PS4 version of Horizon Forbidden West retails for $60, while the PS5 version is listed for $70. This isn't too surprising--all of Sony's exclusives outside of launch titles that are also cross-gen have followed this pattern, including Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut most recently. Unlike those, however, the PS4-to-PS5 upgrade for the PS4 version is going to be free following Sony's announcement over the weekend, making the $10 premium for the base PS5 version a costly option for what it gets you.

In fact, paying $70 outright for the PS5 version might be a worse value proposition too. With the PS4 version of the game and its inherent free upgrade, you are getting Horizon Forbidden West for two consoles. The base PS5 version is only for Sony's new console, so you lose out of that additional platform while also paying $10 more, which makes little sense. If you're buying the physical version, you do get the PS5 case and disc, which might be important to you if you're proud of your physical collection.

It's clear that this is something Sony might address in the coming weeks, since it's a little confusing now to those without context as to why one version is more expensive than the other (especially since the PS4 version on PSN doesn't make the free upgrade option that clear). It could be that Sony is devising a method to compensate for preorders that occurred before its reversal before aligning the prices of both versions.

Either way, take this as a PSA to only preorder the PS4 version if you are planning to before launch, since there's no reason to pay any more than that for the standard edition. To catch up on the story of Horizon Zero Dawn before Forbidden West, be sure to read our Horizon Zero Dawn story explained.