Control publisher 505 Games caused controversy last week when it revealed that only owners of the third-person shooter’s new Ultimate Edition would be able to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version for free. If you own the original, regardless of whether you have the Season Pass or not, you’ll be bang out of luck.
Following a heavy backlash, the organisation’s attempted to explain its decision: “The upgrade path that we are offering is only possible when upgrading from the same version of the game,” a statement reads. “As we are only doing additional development on Control Ultimate Edition on the next-gen platforms, we are unfortunately unable to offer an upgrade path to all existing Control players. We understand how this might upset a number of players but you will still be able to play the 2019 edition of Control and each Expansion on the new platforms.”
The publisher points out that the original version will still be playable on the PS5 using backwards compatibility, but obviously it won’t benefit from any of the upgrades that are being implemented as part of the Ultimate Edition.
The problem for 505 Games is that, no matter how it tries to explain the decision, it ultimately boils down to: we want more money. And while we appreciate the fact that developer Remedy is investing additional work to enhance the experience for PS5, the reality is that other companies are offering free PS4 to PS5 upgrades – irrespective of which version of the game you own.
As a result, it’s going to continue to look bad unless it changes its approach.
[source controlgame.com]
Comments 93
Basically its nonsense then
They'll probably make less money overall with this BS than if the had just offered the free next gen upgrade. Was hoping they would reverse course but they seem to be sticking by their guns.
Wow what a s****y explanation. All content from regular version is already in complete edition, so...
People should get paid for work. I think it’s insane to ask them to do additional work for free. But having a DLC upgrade path vs having to repurchase the game would do wonders for them perceptually. Their marketing & sales dept is failing them.
@Bliquid
👏 🍻
They could easily offer a reduction in the new ultimate edition, especially for owners of both season pass and digital edition, which could be framed as an 'upgrade'.
£10 would have been my bite point, so they could have got an extra tenner from me, but by asking for £50 again, sadly they will get nothing instead.
Terrible excuse. Kinda disappointed and I was once considering buying the DLC but now I don't think I want to...
Yeah, huge bummer. I bought Control day one. And was waiting for all the DLC to be released. But I'm not even sure I want that now. It's a shame I have to buy the whole game again to get the PS5 patch.
@koffing you’re right as they should detail what next gen upgrade means. If it’s new enemy AI and physics it will be like a full new game not just a patch. A patch means new assets updated by a batch tool or very few people.
It's a big F you to everyone who bought the game first day with Season Pass at full price and is still waiting for the second DLC. Now you can buy it much cheaper and with upgrade to PS5
I never bought the game (PS Now'ed it) so I'll be buying this for PS5. Unfortunately, people will not only not buy this again but take it as a personal insult and talk about boycotting the developer and diss all their Mums or something.
I think the solution for them is to just offer a way for people to pay to upgrade the Control they own to Control Ultimate Edition, but doesn't seem like they want to take that path.
... this is absolute s**t.. this is setting a terrible precedence where yet again consumers are being fleeced... this alongside a £70 price hike for games is a major bummer... and that's without being able to hit 60fps on all games... I bought the deluxe version recently in the hope it would serve as a nice upgrade PS5 release title (similar to buying Death Stranding in the recent sale) - but if this is the way forward, they can shove it... and yes, I wouldn't support a developer after this, it's just bad practice and poor money-grabbing anti-consumer nonsense...
All they have to do is upgrade anybody with the season pass on ps4 to the ultimate edition.
Can't be that hard it was done with Mafia 3
I could understand the while “same version of the game” if the Ultimate version did anything other than just bundle in all the DLC.
Also, now It sounds like if there are bugs found in the game, only the Ultimate version will ever get bug fixes...
@Medic_Alert More or less. Although they do have to do work to upgrade it for next-gen so I can understand why some pubs/devs want to be paid for that.
Alas, the fact that so many free upgrades have been announced makes 505 look really bad.
Seen this with PC software. If you buy the version right before a major update, you can get the update for free. So the ultimate edition is the latest pre-update version.
@majklpetr Indeed. It will simply encourage more people to do what I generally do with games now, and delay their purchase in the first place and wait for the fairly swift sale reductions on PSN and/or the inevitable 'complete' edition. Ergo, it'll lose them money in the long run.
They should have just kept their heads down instead of trying to justify this crappy move, with a nonsensical excuse... or they could've just been honest. I have the Digital Deluxe version of the game, so I essentially have all the content in the Ultimate Edition. If they are fixing bugs for the release of the Ultimate Edition then guess what, anyone who owns other version should get the fixes too, because they have a broken product. 505 Games and Remedy have no real excuses for this other than we want more money. I've bought every Remedy game going, but this has certainly soured my relationship with them as a developer.
This is pretty GD disappointing. Why can't they just let us pay $10 or something to upgrade? They're catering to all the people that decided NOT to support them when the game was released on PS4, and practically spitting in the faces of fans that supported them day one. This will definitely impact whether I buy a 505 game on day one again, if at all...
A very lame excuse 😑
That's not a good looks, it's like saying to your loyal fans "you should just wait rather than buying this game $60 on day one" 😕
Remedy can't catch a break, it seems. Too bad, they are a talented team but this kind of nonsense won't win them any more supporters.
They could upgrade the old version to the new version (I've seen plenty games do this).
They could offer current users a free upgrade.
They could offer current users a heavy discount to upgrade if they want.
Or they could be scummy and force you to pay a second time.
Bottom line is they just want more money and don't care about the community.
Or you know, just update all the early copies of Control to the Ultimate Edition. What a load of bullpap! They are essentially going to put all this effort into a version of the game that no one is going to buy. I for one won't be buying any 505 or Remedy games new again, I wonder if it will be worth all the bad feelings towards them from the people who supported them in the beginning.
@smell_ya_l8r This. It would incentivize people to buy the DLC. Seems like a win for everyone
They can get stuffed then. Control is way overrated anyway. It's just Max Payne with a telekinesis gimmick, just like Quantum Break was Max Payne with a time gimmick, and Alan Wake was Max Payne inspired by Twin Peaks.
I'm glad I didn't buy it, and I won't ever buy it. I tried it on PS Now anyway, and it was kinda boring so whatever. If any game fell by the wayside because of horrible publisher practice I'm not too bothered by it, so sucked in Remedy I guess. 505 really screwed you.
I was really interested in buying Control when it was originally released but heard it ran terribly on a base PS4 so decided to leave it and wait until I had a PS5.
That's looking like a very wise decision now but man that really sucks for those that bought it on PS4. I really hope Sony can speak to them and come up with a better solution. It just comes across as pure greed and borderline arrogance.
This is a load of waffle. Good way to screw the fans who supported you through preorders and first week purchases huh?
I really hope this doesn't turn into a trend with other publishers. It's a d*ck move. That's it
There is no controversy. Just again a vocal minority asking for nonsense (Most will not care)
You get BC with PS4 games (Control you bought in 2019 plays on PS5 in 2021). You are not always entitled to a free PS5 remaster for every game you bought the last 7 years.
It is not this complicated.
I never bought the PS4 version so doesn't bother me, but I do hope they offer a paid DLC upgrade down the line for existing PS4 owners.
That’s a piss poor response. Let’s put it this way, I have Control (base game) on PS4 and played through about 60% of the story...while the gameplay is fun, I just got distracted by other games and now it looks like I simply won’t be playing it and its DLC on PS5. If it were a free upgrade, with the option to purchase the DLC then i’d probably finish the game but I sure as hell won’t be buying it again and this whole thing has soured my opinion.
This is why I always wait a year or two before buying a game, that way I always get the complete experience of the game and most of the time cheaper
I get it.
It seems everyone wants new consoles & expect their entire backlogs to be enhanced for free. Its not realistic.
Mind you, doesn't stop Nintendo doing sweet bugger all to their Wii U library when bringing them to Switch, and for full price no less. But hey, nobody dare bat an eyelid at them. Let's all go over the company who seems to struggle game to game.
It's time to stop expecting everything for nothing, money doesn't fall from the sky.
Its Remedy, not EA.
505 games must've stayed up all night & ordered pizza coming up with that carefully considered response-Control "Ultimate" edition is Malibu Stacy with a New Hat!!
505 is basically telling us, "Don't ever buy our games day one, or you might get screwed".
Message heard loud and clear.
Wow. They really don't like their player base, just their money. Well, they won't be getting any more of mine.
I only have the base game which I bought during a sale. I might consider getting the complete edition at some point because this game simply does not run well on the PS4. I play on the Pro and even though the performance is acceptable, I'm excited to see how it plays on the PS5. I like that many games offer a free upgrade, but to assume every publisher is going to do all that work for free is kind of naive if you ask me. Still, this won't do them good PR wise.
Just do this with the season pass, its a rubbish consumer move by the publisher. Remedy arent exactly the biggest dev and have relied on hardcore gamers, who are going to avoid this edition in droves. Wonder how much of a say Remedy actually got with this?
@Cornaboyzzz Yes, but to be "fair" a new SKU likely means new code and you can't just tack on the upgrade to something you haven't spent the time on. Granted they should just bite the bullet and do it for both but they may just not have the resources, we don't know.
Look I get the optics on this and it feels kinda ***** but it's not like Remedy and 505 are some big dogs with infinite resources and/or stupidly overpaid CEOs. They may just not have the money/resources to develop a PS5 version for both SKUs. Granted it would be BETTER, but this is a lot of hate for a relatively well behaved company.
@Col_McCafferty I think thats not up to Sony or MS i think its the developers choice in the end.
This sounds like BS to me. I get that people need to be paid for their extra work, but at least make the PS5 upgrade available as DLC or something.
I'm generally on the side of the consumer, but it's a new system. I didn't hear anyone complaining when they remastered the last of us on PS4. And why do you need to play a game you've already beaten anyway? Who cares? We know EVERY single year that there will be a GoTY or ultimate edition with all the DLC included and people still complain about it. Like Mark Twain said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If more people had the patience to wait, we probably wouldn't have DLC in the first place. Paying for a season pass not knowing what you're getting is crazy to me. I hate it more than anything in the games industry.
505 games, you disappointed me.
They should have tied the upgrade to the season pass. That would have gotten them more money and avoided this backlash.
@Flaming_Kaiser Sure but if it's all about money maybe Sony can through something their way. At the very least asking existing owners to have to pay full price for an upgrade seems a tad cheeky.
Why not meet in the middle and offer a download code for £10/$10/€10 in order to be able to receive all the bells and whistles of the next gen version?
They'll still make a lot of money whilst there are plenty of people, like me for example, that will just buy the PS5 version.
Feel like I've had several pre-orders come around to bite me in the ass like this recently. Not sure I get it, but okay, I'll stop pre-ordering if that's what they want.
@Rbarrett96 To be fair TLOU was bundled with the new system so it kinda was free, or at the very least, deeply discounted.
Also, in regards to DLC, I haven't checked in a while but I was under the impression the last DLC for this game wasn't even out yet. Plus this game had trouble running even on the Pro at times. Would be nice to see if it runs better on PS5.
Just wait until Ultimate Edition goes on sale. There are many many games to buy and play until then.
Ironically if they had just offered nothing to anyone there probably wouldn't have been any bother. It's that they offer free upgrade to some but not others. P!ss poor
If that is the case, why do they not simply give the Ultimate Edition to everyone who owns the original game and the DLC?
Money grabbing it would be so easy for them to just free upgrade every version of it..
@Col_McCafferty It would be nice indeed but whats next then i think the choice is for the developer. I just want too know MS was acting nice but who is paying the bills for the upgraded games its surely not MS or Sony.
@jmace86 How are you going too check the physical copies?
Is it really a Scandal if they are making you pay for a new version of a game? In 2013 I never expected to buy Call of Duty Ghosts on PS3 and get it for free on PS4. Why should we expect that now?
They would fare better with a £10 upgrade 'patch' than a fanbase of pissed consumers. Whomever thought this one up made the wrong call. I agree you can't just give everything for nothing, but by the same token being hyper divisive of your most loyal fans is ridiculous. It could do more harm than good in the long run.
Give a little now, receive alot in the future. Gamers are a loyal breed.
I sorta blame the pandemic but there's definitely still greed involved! I literally bought it 2 days before this new s got out, but for XB1 planning to play it first on the series X! I may just trade it in depending on the price of the ultimate edition! But I'm looking forward to playing fallen order on PS5 day one but godfall first!
So for series X upgrade path you need to buy ultimate. Already own it all & can assure you that won't be happening. You should be ashamed of yourselves
I played control through ps now so I got it cheap, so ill just buy the ultimate edition for £34.99 when its released later this year and just get it for free on ps5, rather pay that than the higher price on ps5 win win seeing as I havent bought the season pass etc.
Inadequate explanation. They could make it work for everyone easily.
I own it on pc. So am I mistaken when pointing out this game will be well over a year old at the release of next gen consoles? Or did Epics timed exclusivity deal extend to console in this case? Ahh, nope, just blocked Steam.
In either case, more than a year between initial release and next gen release is plenty of justification for not giving away an upgraded version. It wasn't built with these consoles in mind. Its still one of the leading examples of modern graphical fidelity. It won't simply be a port or as simple as adjusting sliders. Both consoles are beyond simply being built upon pc architecture and support a third processing unit unique to each console. On top of that, it was built using the existing Nvidia ray tracing tech. AMD has yet to release their first graphics cards capable of performing ray tracing. We don't know the degrees of difference between how this hardware will perform. They do. And that may necessitate additional programming.
I will say the marketing screwed Control at initial release. Even reviewers were initially like, 'Uhh, wtf is this and where did it come from?' So when it became a massive success over time, the publisher has been trying to find a way to continued profitability. Unlike most games, Control didn't move a lot of copies at full retail price. People like myself bought it a month in for $20 when it was thought to be a massive flop. It was the second and third wave of reviews, which coincided w/ a big sale on EGS, that led to an impulse purchase in my case. This isn't Rockstar re-releasing the exact same game on 3 different generations after well over a billion in revenue.
I heard this game doesn't run well on PS4 Pro so I was gonna wait for next gen to play it.
I won't play it at all now.
Good thing it isn't a game I care about. But a whole lot more games for sure will be doing this and worse...
@Agramonte https://img.ifunny.co/images/ce6068c734e8f5d53f5c78e5a6a7b74483847a8d446557fa23c242d2bb0cf617_1.gif
@Flaming_Kaiser Well obviously the could not really check the physical copies of the base game, but they could just go by the DLC (probably safe to assume that anyone with the DLC will also have the base game).
Trying being a Switch owner who also had a Wii U. We're ALWAYS paying full price for ports
Again, majority of the games that currently offer free upgrades do so because they are releasing very close to PS5 launch, Control is already a year old. This is far from being a standard practice in the gaming business so I am really surprised by communicty reaction, it seems there were some unrealistic expectations that all the companies will work on their PS4 games to offer free upgrades for PS5. Besides Doom, what other games have this promise?
Wow, I bought the game and the season pass. Don't think it even includes the new Alan Wake expansion. Why bother getting the PS4 version, might as well wait for sale on PS5. I thought they had already done many of the enhancements for the PC version anyway. Cash grab with a bad taste in your mouth 😬
Edit: Alan Wake stand alone £11.99 or included in the season pass at £19.99
@koffing I think it’s insane that developers and publishers release games broken and barely running with huge performance issues like control.
Releasing a patch to upgrade to next gen for free is being pro consumer and supporting your game and building a good reputation with your customers like cd project red and insomniac. Not harmed sales for cd project red games at all! Gamers have a long memory and will remember them doing this sleazy stunt that 505 games have done pretty much puts them up there with EA and 2K games.
@zupertramp - TLoU remastered came out almost 9 months after PS4 launched and was $50, it only became 'free' with plus last year.
As for this game it should be free to anyone that bought the PS4 version. It ran like utter garbage at launch and still has issues to this day.
@Sunsvsmoon I haven’t been following Control’s development so that’s helpful context. I know Control is a beautiful cross platform game that won a ton of awards and I think I want to play it on PS5. But we don’t know how much work it is to make a PS5 version (agreeing with @madcow78). Is it a simple patch? Are they doing ray tracing? We don’t know. That’s why this is such a stupid marketing move. Their job is to tell a story. The story everyone is hearing is “you have to repurchase our game a second time if you want a PS5 version because we want more cash.” But there could be a different story out there. Give people 60fps with ray-tracing contact shadows or reflections and I think most gamers would happily pay $5-10. I think a lot of the problems we have in our society stem from demanding things for free. When that happens we become the product, not the customer. Ride sharing services that don’t have employees. Social media that sell out our information. Softball journalism that isn’t asking hard questions and let’s the powerful get away with .. anything. Crap games that are full of ads, microtransactions, and loot boxes. I guess my main point was this, I don’t know what 505 is doing but at a minimum their marketing department screwed up. I think gamers will pay money if there is perceived value, 505 has currently failed to demonstrate value while demanding more money. They also should — and I think this is your point — demonstrate empathy and loyalty to their existing customers. They haven’t done that, and they need to think harder about the messages they are sending. Will their be actual consequences for them? Maybe, but I doubt the sales team will notice. This is where gaming journalism has to push and demand real answers and call them out, but the state of journalism in gaming suggests that won’t happen either.
(should add to my previous comment.. because we pay nothing for our gaming journalism either. it’s all “free”)
Did Pushsquare.com turn off ads for people who read the first article on this topic? This article is only an update Jokes aside, this is up to the developer and people already bought and received the product they wanted, anything beyond that is a bonus. I guess some of them are angry that owners of a newer version get that bonus while they dont. But I dont understand the expectation of getting something for free
I wish for just once developers would just have the balls to just tell it like it is and just say because "we're greedy." In a lot of cases with upgrading these games its as simple as tweaking the settings in the graphics dept and optimizing them to run on whatever platform it's going to be on. They act as if they are building the game from the ground up. This is just the typical behavior of many developers and publishers nowadays to bilk players out of as much money as possible or come up with some sort of exclusive BS from one platform to the next. Not even suprised anymore. I do own the PS4 Pro and XB One S and will be buying the PS5 (for Demon's Souls alone!) But since I have Control on PC, I'll not be buying it again to just play an upgraded version on the PS5.
I'm gonna sound dumb here, but I'm not entirely sure I understand what he's talking about. Only some people who have bought the game can have a free upgrade but not everyone?
glad i didn't purchase this game on ps4 considering how poorly optimized it was on the base model. it ran like ass to put it politely. i'll get around to playing it on ps5 next year at this rate and that is fine by me. this just proves the point even further than purchasing games at launch is a bad idea in most cases and you will be better off waiting for the "complete" editions at vastly cheaper price points. there is literally no reason to be first in line to play a game — it is about will power — some people have it, others do not. thankfully i fall in the former camp.
Makes perfect sense, it's a 2019 game, nowhere near new console launch so I completely get that they want to recoup the time and effort to make an upgrade for PlayStation 5 long after the Original release not to mention the OG version can be easily bought for really cheap now, so ya I don't see why it's a problem that a company wants money to do something
@Shigurui Yes, it came out after PS4 launch. It was also bundled with the console (basically for free). Not sure what the disagreement is.
Also Minecraft allowed owners of the game to upgrade for a small fee from PS3 to PS4. It's really not as crazy as some people are making it sound to expect (or at least prefer) that kind of consideration for a port.
505 Games, the official tight a$$es of the gaming industry.
@zupertramp - The disagreement is that you're trying to make out that TLoU remastered was practically given away at launch when it absolutely wasn't. Being bundled with a console isn't free and it wasn't as you said, deeply discounted at the very least. It was a $50 game.
Acting like people are expecting anything for free is misguided at best and completely dishonest at worst. None of this is free. We bought the game. I'm not giving them more money for the same thing I already own to get an upgrade to next gen and I won't buy it on next gen either.
It's a bad look for them.
Why the actual f*** does anyone care??? If you bought it on PS4 and enjoyed it, it's compatible with PS5 so stop crying. If you didn't play it on PS4 and want it on PS5, then buy it. Since when did people feel entitled to get a free upgrade on a game because a developer decides to release it on different generations? Grow the f*** up.
Rockstar didn't care if they charged you again from PS3 to PS4. Now they're doing the same from PS4 to PS5!
But that's okay. It's Rockstar.
Also, how many people were mocking Xbox Smart Delivery that are now screaming for parity. The developer doesn't owe anyone anything for free!
Buy it or don't. Stop crying though.
Well... if you don't want to pay, don't buy it.
That's simple...
Who cares..this game sucked and was a flop..not missing anything
Typical following e.a and Ubisoft anti consumer practices.
@Shigurui My exact words were "TLOU was bundled with the new system." Which it was. And being that this bundle was the same price as the base model all on it's own... that kinda makes the game free in my opinion.
My whole point was TLoU doesn't make for a very good example to highlight as a game that no one complained about when it was remastered for PS4 because, in the case of TLoU there was a way to both upgrade to the new console and get this game thrown in with it.
This will probably show up again further down the line on PS NOW on the ps5. Will will automatically up the visuals and game play overall. But I've already completed this on ps4 and have no need to repurchase. But I'd hold back and see what's revealed about PS NOW and backwards compatibility with the ps5.
The main reason why this is bad is because Playstation has chosen not to enhance all of its games (ps4) for the PS5 which is forcing all to buy the PS5 version of games to get the enhanced graphics. In contrast Xbox is allowing any discs to have it enhanced with their new system. Playstation needs to feel the heat of its competitors in order to offer a better product. The Control 505 game is consistent which what Sony is planning so not much a loss there. Sony also is forcing everyone to buy PS5 controllers for its games whereas Xbox will make all old controllers compatible with its new system. So don't fault 505 games but look at overall plans of new releases from the competitors and let's all demand more bang for buck.
I have downloaded this and tried it thanks to PSNOW, the game is simply unplayable on the original PS4. I didn't even progress in it as I was turned off by the constant stutter. I can understand people's position who supported this day one. I will buy it on the ps5 to enjoy the better performance plus DLC
@zupertramp I meant the DLC and season pass as a seperate point from TLOU part. Should have made that more clear.
@Rbarrett96 No worries, that was understood. And I'm inclined to agree that the practice of DLC and Season Passes, generally, is fairly bizarre. Even calling it a Season Pass I find strange because not every game has Seasons.
And it's a bit of a dead horse at this point but I should mention that while I don't feel that strongly about this game, it does bother me a little to have ponied up the money for a deluxe edition pre-order not knowing exactly what post-release content would look like (or even if I'd like the game) but the studio acts like there's no way to reward that heading into the next-gen. But this goes back to your mention of paying for something before you even know what it's going to be so I guess that's ultimately on me as the consumer.
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