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‘Spider-Man’: no free PS5 upgrade for owners of the PS4 version

Sony has confirmed that owners of the PS4 version of Marvel’s Spider-Man will not be entitled to a copy of the remastered PS5 version.

Some disappointing news for owners of the 2018 version of Spider-Man for the PS4: Sony has stated that they will not be giving away any free upgrades when the PS5 is released. Here’s the full (and slightly convoluted) statement released to Kotaku:

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered is an enhanced version of Marvel’s Spider-Man, and is included as part of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition for the PlayStation 5. In addition, players who purchase Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PlayStation 4 can upgrade at no additional cost to the PS5 version of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and can take advantage of a paid-upgrade to download Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered.

Spider-Man PS4 Selfie

“There are no plans currently to offer Marvel’s-Spider-Man: Remastered as a standalone. Players with a copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 can purchase Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition to experience Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered on PS5. Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 also will be backwards compatible on PS5.”

So, to boil that down:

  • If you have the PS4 version of Spider-Man and want the PS5 version, go buy PS5 version of Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition. It’s bundled with that.
  • If you have the PS4 version of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, you’ll get a free upgrade to its PS5 equivalent. From there, you can pay $30 AUD for the remaster of Spider-Man.
  • You’ll still be able to play the PS4 version of Spider-Man on the PS5, thanks to backward compatibility.

Given the number of free updates being made available for cross-generation releases including Cyberpunk 2077Horizon Forbidden West, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, this move comes across as a little unexpected from Sony. Given the extremely strong offerings being made with the Xbox Series X and S, one might expect them to make every show of generosity possible in order to lure the undecided into camp PlayStation.

Hopefully the negative community response from this news will provoke them to be just that bit more pro-consumer at we near the launch of the next-gen consoles.