Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sucker Punch Productions recently announced Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, which includes the brand new Iki Island story expansion alongside new content and features.
The PS5 version of Director’s Cut will also add exclusive enhancements – like support for DualSense‘s features – not possible on the last-gen console. All well and good so far. However, the PS5 upgrade locks hardware-specific enhancements behind a paywall, which has drawn the ire of fans.
If you own the original PS4 release, you can get the Director’s Cut on PS4 for $19.99, which makes sense because it includes the expansion as well as additional features and content. But if you want to directly upgrade from the original PS4 version to the Director’s Cut on PS5, that’s $29.99 – an additional $10 for the same content. And if you purchase or upgrade to the Director’s Cut on the PS4 first, and end up buying a PS5, you will still need to pay $9.99 should you wish to play Director’s Cut on your new console. Herein lies the problem.
Sites like Reddit and Twitter are flooded with complaints from fans who’ve pointed out that Sony is essentially charging Ghost of Tsushima players $9.99 for simply enjoying the PS5 hardware’s features. Those who want to play Director’s Cut but don’t have a PS5 when it releases will not only pay for the additional content, but also pay $9.99 on top should they wish to play the same content on the PS5 later down the line, but with features like haptic feedback. The only difference between the PS4 and PS5 versions of the Director’s Cut are hardware-specific enhancements. In the past, such upgrades have been free.
In other words, Sony isn’t merely charging for the expansion and additional features (which everyone’s more than willing to pay for), it’s also charging players separately for simply wanting to enjoy the PS5’s features.
Sony has not responded to the controversy.
