Which means Sony got an extra £10 out of 68% of those who bought the game.
A whopping 68% of UK players purchased the physical PS5 version of Horizon Forbidden West, paying an extra £10 for the title rather than taking advantage of a free PS4 upgrade.
The data comes by way of GamesIndustry.biz, as analysed by VCG. Digital sales information was not available at the time of publication.
As we reported ahead of launch, players in Australia could have saved between $15-20 AUD buy purchasing a physical or digital copy of Forbidden West on PS4, then upgrading it to its PS5 version at no additional cost. The offer was made by Sony as part of a series of backflips in September 2021 in which a free upgrade path was offered, then rescinded, then offered again.
As noted by VGC, those on a PS5 console looking to purchase Horizon Forbidden West were only offered the more expensive PS5 option; to purchase the cheaper PS4 version, those players were required to use a web browser or a PS4 console.
Hoeg Law attorney Richard Hoeg took to Twitter to question Sony’s practices.
“For folks not following what’s happening here, Sony is offering a PS4 version with a ‘free’ PS5 upgrade for $60 and a PS5 version with a PS4 copy included for $70,” Hoeg began in a series of tweets. “Same package. Two price points. With one displayed more prominently than the other.”
A video from Hoeg detailing the situation is below.
“There is no defending this kind of business model from the Sony PlayStation folks,” he continued in a later tweet. They appear to be deliberately confusing the price point in an effort to ‘steal’ $10 dollars [USD] from the uninformed. Duplicity and greed.”
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5; we reviewed it here.
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Horizon Forbidden West18 February 2022PS4 PS5 |
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