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Sony open to letting devs charge for PS4 Pro upgrade patches

The console market is getting a huge shake-up this year with the launch of the PS4 Pro, an upgraded version of the PS4 that is targeting 4K TV owners. The benefits of the PS4 Pro vary quite a bit from game to game but things may get even more confusing, as Sony is apparently open to letting developers and publishers charge for 4K/HDR upgrade patches to existing PS4 games.

The PS4 Pro comes with twice as much GPU horsepower as the original PS4 and naturally, there are some older titles from this generation that could benefit from that power boost, allowing for higher resolutions, better frame rates or both. It was assumed that these “forward compatibility” patches for older titles would be free but apparently, Sony is open to the idea of developers charging you more money for them.

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Speaking with the Japanese website Game Impress Watch (translated by Kotaku), Sony exec, Masayasu Ito said that PS4 Pro upgrade patches for existing games could cost money, or be free depending on the title: “It will be different for each title. I believe it will depend on the thinking of each licensee.”

This thinking apparently extends to Sony's first-party releases too but once again, whether the patch is free or paid for will vary from game to game. To clarify, the interviewer said “What you’re saying is that there will be titles that have a fee [for the patch] and [patches for the] titles that are free”, to which Ito replied “that is correct”.

KitGuru Says: I really do hope that this ends up not being the case. It is one thing to release a more powerful console mid-generation, but to charge users yet another fee to allow their currently owned games to take advantage of the new hardware seems like a huge step in the wrong direction.

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9 comments

  1. Eh, how about fuck you. Most of these patches would be a waste of cash and I doubt older titles would recoup the money. I personally would only pay for a patch on the Last of Us or Uncharted

  2. So not only are they bringing out a slightly upgraded console ahead of the normal time but now they are saying it is ok for devs to charge for a upgrade patch for the older games so they may get a slight boost some where. Talk about giving the Regular PS4 owners the middle finger. It is all great and all that the PS4 Pro will allow for some better looking games but to say devs can charge for a patch to maybe make an game designed for the first gen PS4 look better or play slightly better is pure horse crap you are better off just playing it the way it was and save your money for another game or 2.

  3. paying for patches… yeah I think we know good an idea this is

  4. I doubt many developers will do this. They tend to make patches free even when they could charge for them. It unlikely that many would change their tune after many many years of doing things that way.

  5. better frame rates, there you have it, the death of buying a console every 5-6 years and having the best sony offering in that time frame is gone and as far as sony playstation is concerned the ps4 is the last one I own. I bought my console thinking id have the best for 5-6 years before the ps5 was releases and I was wrong. If id have known I d have waited. The ps 5 is coming out and they disquised it by calling it a ps4 pro, what else do you call a console that gets a resolution and fps increase exept a new console. I hope sony feels the loss in sales when this comes out and I hope their ps5 suffers too cause this sucks.
    paying for patches is such a good idea its up there with paying for items in game, thks sony and xbox and even pc for bringing mobile gameing to the serious game market.

  6. sadly same is on pc as well. remaster PAY AGAIN B

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  8. Well a Remaster it’s an option and people can choose if they want to do it or not. Some remasters are worth. But yeah most ain’t

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