Sony's Backwards PS4 to PS5 Upgrade System Is Still Causing Headaches

Is this Sony's issue or Square's? Maybe I don't have many cross buy games, but I haven't seen other games do this type of upgrade where it's a separate entry for the upgrade itself instead of just being the PS5 version of the game.

Yep, hit by this as well. Waste time redownloading the PSN version and trying to get the upgrade to work. Then redownloading the PS5 version. No dice.

Sony suck at software os, I can’t believe I still can’t organize games with folders on my ps5 😕

I have the ps+ version and it was supposed to be a simple upgrade but it gave me a headache..i actually had to search the psn store for the bloody game and then update it via the drop down menu..even then it took me a few tries before it worked..things shouldnt be this awkward..

Yeah, this is a mess for sure. However, the top honor of most convoluted PS4 to PS5 upgrade still belongs to Control. Though I believe that fiasco is all due to the games publisher, 505 Games. Yeah, the same publisher involved in the Bloodstained port for Switch fiasco. I will always take the opportunity to talk s#!t about 505 Games.

Ahh was hoping for that to give the disc back to m friend wo borrowed it to me.

This worries me about getting the $80 PS4/PS5 edition of HFW and actually having it work on both consoles. I'm putting the PS4 in my kids room with the 52" 1080p TV so they can play it whenever they want. They're not too concerned about 4k.

Even if you'd only had the PS+ version it was far from obvious!

I only have the PS Plus version and I haven't been able to upgrade. Is it because I don't own a PS5 yet?

I’m a Sony fan. But this is one area where Microsoft absolutely beat Sony over the head with a baseball bat.

Microsoft’s solution is simple and easy, whether you authenticate with discs or use digital. The best version of the game for your system is what is installed. No searching the store, no drop down menus, none of that nonsense.

I really wish Sony would have taken a page from Microsoft on that one.

Looks like I’ll be holding onto my discs for the time being then.

Wait... do PS4 disc owners of the game that didn't put the Plus version of the game in their library (as they had it on disc already) also get the PS5 upgrade or is it just for those that did the Plus version?

As someone who only ever had the ps+ version, how do I upgrade it to ps5 version?

@TheRedComet yeah smart delivery is great, Sony will never do anything like it when there’s money to be made from upgrades

@MrGilly69 I was in your position - I didn't find it obvious but, assuming you have a PS5, I outlined the way I did it in the comments for the article about it (credit to others who pointed me the right way):

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2021/12/ps5-upgrade-for-final-fantasy-vii-remake-now-available-with-ps-plus

It was very easy for me. I downloaded it last night. Uploaded my saved data and was good to go.

Just play the PS4 version & stop complaining 🙄

@munstre Those of us who owned PS4 Pros, X1X's, or played on PC have had such expectations for quite a few years already.

What we didn't expect was that Sony and some publishers would still not have it figured out at the start of the new gen, after already having several years head start in their prior mid-gen lifecycles...

It's not "difficult engineering and investment", there's no technical console barrier for BC or upgrades at play. It's the only the DRM licensing server that's the whole craziness (not all on Sony's end, Square and others have managed to get it very wrong when implementing it, and a few publishers have been weird enough to mess it up on Xbox that does it all for them, namely Bamco with Tales of Arise.) That's not an engineering problem, that's a planning problem. Sony's issue is not thinking it through and planning, for publishers and themselves, a well thought out environment for the licensing of these things. TBH, I assume they didn't want to plan it well and wanted the absence of a system for it to be an excuse to double-sell everything, and have been caught on their back heel trying to retrofit upgrade paths after the fact when they realized the market demanded it now. Which is their own myopia. They're the ones that demanded developers support upgrade patches for better hardware as mandatory when they launched Pro in 2016. That got the ball rolling for console to follow PC. And then they tried to put their own genie back in the bottle with PS5, while their competitor ran full steam ahead with it.

That's the funny thing. People here sometimes suggest that MS doing it distorted things and made the internet demand things from Sony nobody expected. But that's not true. Sony actually did it first and forced it on devs. Xbox didn't do it for a full year later.

All that said, this is probably on Square, not Sony, but Sony's pretty crummy DRM design isn't making it easier on publishers.

@munstre Mr Jim Ryan set that expectation with his "we believe in generations" statement. All of a sudden PS5 games were also coming to PS4 amongst other changes, a beast of their own making

I love how people believe Sony calls the shots on all these IPs they pay to get on PlayStation Plus, it's a one way street Sony holds all the decision power when comes to other companies IP.

@munstre Upgrades should be free anyone who thinks otherwise is just stupid. You're literally paying for higher settings that a PC can get for free.

It’s stories like these that make me believe there is zero hope for PS3 back compat. I’ll gladly eat my words but Sony just doesn’t have the engineering talent that Microsoft has.

I do like how on Xbox the licenses for the games are handled much better. You can install a game from a disc, then if you get the digital version (through purchasing, Games with Gold, or Game Pass), you don't have to reinstall the game or anything. You can just play the game without the disc. On PlayStation, you'll have to download the digital version because it is treated as a separate game than the disc version. It's not a big deal, but there are many little quality of life advantages like that Xbox has that add up.

I bought it digitally when it first came out on the PS4. Was a simple thing to click on free upgrade and then to buy the intermission dlc and get the three small summons dlc. No trouble at all.

I'm so sick of having to delete the PS4 version of Death Stranding EVERY time I boot up my PS5, even from rest mode, just because I have to keep the disc in.
It made me accidentally delete Detroit: Become Human, thankfully I had a physical copy, but as I can only connect via phone, the update still used a lot of data, just so I could finish the game.
They really, really need to sort out the operating system menu, it's been over a year, they need to get their act together.

@AstraeaV That's irrelevant to the issue at hand, though. The issue is for those of us who bought the game on disc, redeemed the free upgrade with the disc, and now can't get access to the digital-only copy via PS Plus.

What you describe is just a standard digital purchase.

@TheCollector316 I think that must depend on the game, because I switched from disk to digital on Borderlands 3 with no hassle at all

Until they make integrade available on PS4, I don't care

@dskatter If you bought it then why do you need it through ps plus?

@Clemerek Try to redeem the free upgrade from the ps store within the phone app or your web browser. That's how I would redeem the free ps5 upgrades before I got my ps5.

@theheadofabroom

Unfortunately, too much varies by game. The lack of consistency blows.

@AstraeaV Convenience, obviously. If I have the PS4 PS Plus version and they allow it to be upgraded to PS5, why should my previous disc upgrade block it?

Like I said, the experience you describe is how it is supposed to happen and has no bearing on this. But the mere fact that I upgraded a disc previously now blocks what is SUPPOSED to work.

Tis confusion.

Equivalent of first world problems tbh

@AstraeaV impractical Jokers ?

I had this with another game that I'd got on disc but had been given free on PlayStation Plus. What I did was to uninstall the disc version completely. Then just launch the game from the digital 'tile' and all worked fine. Might be worth a try with this one. If it works please confirm and let others see it works for this title too.

Yeah, roll on 2023 when the ps4 is dead and we can just buy a game and know that it is native and good.

Ps4 sucks!!!!

To be fair to sony though. Most people were screaming out for a backwards compatible ps5 and now we've got one, we expect sony to get it right straight off the mark, with no mistakes?

Let them learn!

Wll i don't think its messy. For me its working fine. Not a single probleem with any ps5 upgrade. But i can understand For some players its a headache.

Borrowed my brothers PS4 copy and finished it once. Was thinking about playing the ps plus (now) PS5 edition for the plat but this makes me weary. Also, not sure if it has a separate trophy list. Probably just won’t bother.

@TheRedComet Totally agree. At least the current system allows for downloading the PS4 version when the PS5 version has worse framerates (Genshin, GTA Trilogy). Best thing would be cause a solution that „just works“.

I agree it's confusing for customers. I think it's down too Final Fantasy VII Remake being it's own version for PlayStation Plus Upgrades. So if you are looking to upgrade you're PlayStation Plus version of Final Fantasy VII Remake, go into the PlayStation Store & search "Final Fantasy VII Remake Upgrade for PS4 version owners" this is the version you are downloading not the rental digital version.

I played the PS+ version then when my PS+ expired i brought the ps4 version. wonder whether i will get the upgrade when i get a PS5

@NEStalgia PS4 Pro/XB1X upgrades are different they're not different files but rather an update to the existing file. In general I'd say not enough credit is given to music games when it comes to free crossgen upgrades, franchises like Dance Central and Rock Band did them back in 2014/2015. The Sony Europe Rock Band 4 experience especially gave an insight in the issues with Sony's crossgen upgrade system.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2015/10/most_of_rock_band_4s_legacy_dlc_delayed_in_europe

That went on for 32 months.

I got onto Playstation's support chat, and I simply asked them to revoke the license for my disc upgrade, and they did it. It took 2 minutes, and now I can use the plus version of the game. Not the easiest, but it is what it is. Anybody wanting a fix just needs to ask that they revoke the "FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE upgrade for PS4™ version owners" license. EDIT: surprisingly, it didn't make me redownload the game. What was previously a "disc" license game is now a "PS+" license game.

@TheRedComet @Max_the_German It sounds simple; but its a lot more complex of an issue than that, and I very much appreciate given the choice of version; rather than going with the "best".

Three MAJOR reasons why. The first is Trophies. Trophies for the PS4 version of a game are (usually/almost always) separate from the PS5 version of the same game; meaning if I was in the middle of playing a game on the PS4 and moved over to the PS5, I would no longer be working on the same trophy list if it just used the PS5 version.

The second is: As with Trophies; but sometimes, the save-game isn't even compatible between versions, so good-luck picking up where you left off.

The third is: the newest version of a game (PS5 version) can often underperform the previous version of the same game (PS4 Pro version) running on the PS5.

The point is: there is no clear "best" version for all situations.

To be clear: Microsoft does this as well. Some games have shared Achievement lists and save games, and some games split them (its a crap shoot)

@thedevilsjester

The only game I know of where the PS4 Pro version is superior is GTA Trilogy. And it looks a lot worse; it just plays better right now since the framerate is more consistent than the PS5 version.

I’m curious to what the other ones are. Every PS5 version of a PS4 game I’ve played blows its original version out of the water. I’m currently playing Ghost of Tsushima Directors Cut. It’s not the biggest visual upgrade I’ve seen, but man the load times are literally non-existent and it runs at Native 4K/60. Not many PS5 games can do that right now.

@TheRedComet There are quite a few. FFXIV is the biggest one that comes to mind that I play (Watch Digital Foundry's analysis, even they recommend playing the PS4 version on PS5)

I could do with worse performance. I am not a hardcore performance gamer, but with separate trophy lists? That's unacceptable.

@thedevilsjester

I figured the PS5 version would run better by default on that game. On PS4 it runs at 30FPS with dynamic scaling right?

Pretty bad move on the developers not to further optimize it. I know the engine is old as dirt but it should be an easy locked 60fps at an internal 1440p resolution for that game.

@TheRedComet
Its all over the place, watch the Digital Foundry video for more info; but here is a quick reference (at the time of the video) the frame rates look something like:

PS4 [Pro] (on PS5)
Quality: Normal, 60 FPS @ 1080p
Quality: High, ~55-60 FPS @ 1440p

PS5 Native
~45-60 FPS @ 1080p
~30-60 FPS @ 1440p
~45 FPS @ 2160p

@thedevilsjester

I watched the video earlier. You’re right the game is poorly optimized for PS5 and I would go for the PS4 version in that instance.

One person in the comments mentioned that he felt like ambient bloom occlusion may be the culprit, since turning that setting on tanks the game’s FPS on the PC version. PS4 doesn’t have it while it seems like PS5 does judging by the quality of the bloom effects.

If that’s the culprit, Square could disable it and it would probably lock to 60 in all cases.

@TheRedComet Oh, I am sure its fixable (and for all I know it might be fixed already) its just one more reason why having a choice is better than not having one. (Sony could make that choice more obvious though)

@munstre sorry but regardless of company size and laid out planning for infrastructure on upgrading games it isnt really that difficult of a implementation Sony playstation have had a year and then some to get it right but are still floundering in the "we could still make money from next gen upgrades" jim ryan even stated "we believe in generations" for a little while also promised next gen upgrades with titles and then comes out later on twitter to say "this is the last time you will recieve a free next gen upgrade" its a action of not only pure greed but a very poor attitude towards generations.

Xbox smart delivery has been there from day one. While not all next gen upgrades are free (outside of xbox control) its definitely the right move to get people playing on new hardware.

Im honestly amazed why playstation is selling so well when xbox is doing such an amazing job.

@Loftimus they have had almost a year and 6 months to get this right, they obviously dont want you upgrading for free.

@Gh05tm4ch1n3 Well, it (ps5) has only been out 13 months and we've only got 3 more cross gen games left to come (hopefully). So, no need to put any resources into it really.

This is square messing about more than sony anyway and with it being free, maybe a bit more patience is required.

@Gh05tm4ch1n3

Sony’s overall system is good. It has had issues on individual components of the plan. But the overall plan is good.

The PS5 hardware is excellent. The first year of software releases has been much stronger than past PlayStations.

I think a lot of people are forgetting just how poor the PS3 launched. That launch was a disaster. It’s first two years were slim pickings. The PS4 launch was miles better, but software availability for year one was pretty weak. Hell, even the PS2’s launch lineup was weak; it sold mostly on promises that were fulfilled a year later.

The PS5 has honestly been Sony’s strongest launch from if we are thinking solely about software. Year One has been excellent overall.

Plus I think people were ready for new consoles. I know I was. For me it was loading times. Red Dead 2 proved that to me. We needed new hardware that would specifically attack load times, which had gotten back to the PS1 era (or worse in some cases).

There was pent up demand. Then the virus hit. And production cannot keep up with demand for either Microsoft or Sony. Nintendo has been the great victor here, since they had the one console that’s been routinely available.