I’m fine with the Nintendo Switch 2 charging for the backwards compatibility upgrade

As a Switch owner, I’m waiting for news on Switch 2 backwards compatibility and upgrade paths. I’m pretty sure it will be backwards compatible, but I really don’t know if Nintendo will offer upgrade paths or charge full price for their own Switch versions of 2 Switch games or provide free boosts for Switch games that work through backwards compatibility.

But in retrospect, I’d say Sony struck a pretty good balance, even though they have some ways to upgrade or have flaws. I think the biggest problem was how confusing it all was.

Most of the native PlayStation 4 games that work via backwards compatibility on the PlayStation 5 have received a free patch that provides a transformative, for me, 60fps mode. However, to most people’s surprise, the most requested – Bloodborne – has yet to appear.

Where a native version of the PlayStation 5 was released with additional work on graphical assets or new modes, a not-too-obvious £10 upgrade path was offered. They also had a launch grace period where you got the PlayStation 4 and 5 versions for the price of a PlayStation 4.

Horizon Forbidden West was part of it, but when it slipped out of the PlayStation 5 launch window, Sony tried to charge an upgrade fee. The pushback forced them to apologize and meet the original launch window criteria.

Complete remakes like Demon’s Souls are quite reasonably complete. The only time I think they misjudged it and the job didn’t reflect a full price release or offer an upgrade path is The Last Of Us Part 1.

They also removed Uncharted 4 from PSN shortly before the PlayStation 5 native Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection was released, which was a bit of a bummer. But I think you still have the option of buying the PlayStation 4 disc version and thus getting access to the PlayStation 5 digital upgrade for £10. The PlayStation 5 version also had DLC and was not sold at full price. I think it was 45 pounds. But at this stage, you’ll find the PlayStation 5 version on PSN sales, and that’s probably the cheapest way to get it.

Personally, I didn’t choose the upgrade option on most games because I’m really interested in 60fps and most of them got a free patch. The PlayStation 4 The Last of Us Remastered already runs at 60fps so I’m not going to worry about The Last Of Us Part 1 either. However I went the £10 Uncharted 4 upgrade route because I didn’t have a well received DLC and the upgrade path gave you that.

I could be wrong, but I also think the PlayStation 4 Uncharted 4 didn’t get the free 60fps patch because they probably want you to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version. Which again was a bit of a bummer, but since the DLC was added with it and I didn’t own it, it was a good price for me. I wonder if this is the reason Bloodborne didn’t get a 60fps patch because it’s being considered for a PlayStation 5 remaster/remake.

I could be wrong again, but I think cross-gen games like God Of War Ragnarök also didn’t get the free backwards compatibility patches to make the PlayStation 4 30fps on the PlayStation 5 version 60fps, and you need to get a £10 upgrade path to your PlayStation 5 to access this.

Overall, I can play most of the Sony first party games I bought on my PlayStation 4 at 60fps with the free patch on the PlayStation 5. Games like Ghost Of Tsushima, Days Gone, God Of War, The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn. And where I can’t, the £10 upgrade path isn’t too bad. But like I said before, it’s an ungodly mess knowing what got what.

Simund’s Reader

Reader features do not necessarily reflect the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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