Aloy's adventures are about to restart in Horizon Forbidden West. And if you're looking to play the game on Sony's latest console, you might want to hear about the Horizon Forbidden West PS5 upgrade.

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In news that is sure to be a relief for those who adored the first game, and that includes us, Horizon Forbidden West is getting rave reviews and looks to be every bit as thrilling and captivating as the original.

Oddly enough, though, the cheapest way to play Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 is to buy the PS4 version first and then upgrade it for free into the PS5 version. If you just go ahead and buy the PS5 version straight off the bat, that will cost you more.

But let's get into that in a bit more detail!

How to get Horizon Forbidden West PS5 upgrade

Sony promised long ago that PS4 players of Horizon Forbidden West would be able to upgrade to the PS5 version for free, which means a PS4 copy of the game can be fully upgraded without any additional cost whatsoever.

Normally, there is a price of around £10 charged for PS4-to-PS5 upgrades, but not this time! You can buy the PS4 version at its normal price and upgrade it to the PS5 version when the game launches later this week.

In an odd move, though, Sony has opted to make the price for Horizon Forbidden West's PS5 version a little bit more expensive than the PS4 version. So if you don't buy the PS4 version, it will cost you more to get the PS5 version.

As the below screenshot from Sony's website shows, your two options are:

  • Buy the Horizon Forbidden West PS4 version for £59.99 and get a 'digital upgrade to PS5 version'
  • Buy the Horizon Forbidden West PS5 version, which also has the PS4 version included, for £69.99

It really is a confusing case of semantics going wobbly, to be honest. But the long and short of it is, both of these 'editions' include both the PS4 and PS5 versions, and one is £10 cheaper than the other.

Make sure you buy the Horizon Forbidden West PS4 version and get the free PS5 upgrade.
Make sure you buy the Horizon Forbidden West PS4 version and get the free PS5 upgrade. Sony

To get the Horizon Forbidden West PS5 upgrade as cheaply as possible, this is what you need to do:

  • Head to the PS Store from a web browser
  • Buy the Edition that is priced at £59.99
  • When the game launches, you should be able to install the PS5 version on your console

As Sony noted in the Tweet below, you cannot pre-load the PS5 version of Horizon Forbidden West if you bought the upgrade in this way. However, once the game launches, you should be able to download the next-gen version if you have the console to match.

Why is Horizon Forbidden West more expensive on PS5?

The reasons behind this bizarre pricing go back years. To understand what's going on here, you need to know that Horizon Forbidden West was originally meant to be a launch title for the PS5 console, which came out in late 2020.

In the build-up to the PS5 launch titles coming out, Sony promised that there would be a free upgrade to the PS5 version for anyone who bought the PS4 version of one of these games. This seemed like a nice perk for PS4 owners who weren't able to buy a PS5 at launch, but still wanted to play all those exciting new games on the new system at some point.

However, Horizon Forbidden West was delayed all the way until 2022. And in 2021, Sony announced that the pricing would now be £10 more for the PS5 version. This decision received some online backlash, causing Sony to backtrack on that planned price hike.

At the time of the backtracking, Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan wrote on the PlayStation blog: "We made a commitment to deliver free upgrades for our cross-gen launch titles, which included Horizon Forbidden West.

"While the pandemic’s profound impact pushed Forbidden West out of the launch window we initially envisioned, we will stand by our offer: Players who purchase Horizon Forbidden West on PlayStation 4 will be able to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version for free."

What we appear to be seeing today, now that the Horizon Forbidden West launch week is upon us, is the strange reality of seeing those two conflicting Sony price plans both being available on the PlayStation Store.

In short: you can buy the Horizon Forbidden West PS4 version and upgrade to the PS5 version for free, or you can pay £10 more for the PS5 version (and still get the PS4 version included).

We've no idea why anyone would choose the latter option when the former is ten bob cheaper, but there you go! At least the more affordable option still exists.

In future, with other upcoming PlayStation exclusives like Gran Turismo 7 and God of War: Ragnarok, Sony has said that PS5 versions will be £10 dearer than their PS4 counterparts as standard. So enjoy this deal while you can – it could be the last of its kind that Sony is willing to offer.

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