Control Will Offer “Free” Next-Gen Upgrade, But Only if You Buy it Again
505 Games and Remedy Entertainment have announced the Control Ultimate Edition, a Game of the Year release if you will, for one of my favourite games in recent times. It will feature both the main game, as well as the two expansions, The Foundation and AWE; an Alan Wake inspired expansion that will release later this month.
Some while a go, it was revealed that there will be a “free” next-gen upgrade for those that own Control on PS4 or Xbox One, and 505 Games and Remedy Entertainment have announced just that. However, there’s a big catch, because you can only get this “free” next-gen upgrade if you buy this Ultimate Edition. This includes those that already own the game, including the Deluxe Edition. So basically, even if you own Control, as well as the two expansions (including as the Expansion Pass), you will have to buy all this content again if you want the “free” next-gen upgrade and forthcoming updates.
Don’t get me wrong, 505 Games and Remedy Entertainment have every right to be as consumer unfriendly as they like, after all, they are a business that needs to make money. However, many companies including the likes of EA, Activision, Bandai Namco, Microsoft and more are offering free next-gen upgrades for those that own the current-gen versions, without the need of additional purchases.
As detailed on the 505 Games FAQ page, it stated:
“Will Control Ultimate Edition give me access to Control on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5? We will offer a free next-gen digital upgrade for those who buy Control Ultimate Edition on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.” And it added “What if I purchased the original version of Control previously? The free upgrade path to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 version of Control is only available for Control Ultimate Edition.“
Yes the fanboy can say “but they are offering a free next-gen upgrade”, but that’s only if you buy this re-release, regardless of whether or not you already own the game with all expansions. Even if they were to offer a next-gen upgrade at a one-time cost of £10 would be something for those that already own the game. But this very consumer unfriendly method is essentially punishing early adopters.
The Control Ultimate Edition does cost a reasonable £29.99, which is great value if you don’t already own all of its content and will release for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 27th, the same date as the AWE expansion.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this news. Do you already own all the Control content and will you buy it all again for the “free” next-gen upgrade? Share your thoughts across our social media channels.
Oh and I nearly forgot to say, that later today at 5pm BST, Remedy Entertainment will be streaming the first 15 minutes of AWE on Twitch, which should be interesting. You can also read our review of Control here.