Yet Another Big Gaming Paywall

Fans of gaming are no strangers to last minute announcements of a new paywall in an upcoming release, and whilst those expecting a price to pay may be a little more willing to pay, additional hidden costs continue to be a problem within gaming as a whole. Some genres do lend themselves more to these additional costs as microtransactions look to continue sticking around much in the same way they have, particularly with the likes of gambling titles https://ukonlinecasinoslist.com/ amongst many others – but as an expected cost it’s less of a problem. The latest to hit the AAA title news however has been with Ghost of Tsushima, with an unexpected cost instead.

(Image from pushsquare.com)

Plenty of games already allow players a free upgrade from the previous console generation to the next generation, and there’s a huge list of those that allow this along with all of the features that included in the upgrade, but the upgrade for Ghost of Tsushima has left a sour taste in the mouth of many. With the release of the directors cut costing $19.99, with the inclusion of the expansion too, it’s certainly not a high price to pay and something many would be more than willing to do with all of the extra things included, but to charge an additional $9.99 on top of that to convert it to the Playstation 5 version is what has irked many fans. It has turned an announcement that should’ve been exciting and a slam dunk for many into something that instead raises questions around the future of gaming paywalls and extra purchases that may be needed.

A huge selling point particularly for the Playstation 5 had been in the fact that there was a lot of backwards capability, and with the growing list of titles that can be transferred for free too it was looking as if there was change being seen, but those who have built up a catalogue of hundreds of different titles may now start to wince at the thought that some studios may want to charge for this upgrade – whilst fair in some regards as it is only the fraction of the cost of a new game, with little to boast other than some audio changes, support for the newest controllers, and some other features, where does the additional cost come from? 

With the precedent already being set for free upgrades, it definitely seems like a step back, particularly when compared to other platforms like PC which have allowed the same catalogues to be accessed at any time – it is just one example of a game charging, but may not be the last, and once again another big paywall that seems to have been introduced for no reason at all.