505 Games Attempts to Explain Control’s PS5 Upgrade Scandal

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.