An attorney has criticized Sony for deceptive advertising related to Horizon Forbidden West.
An attorney has criticized Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) for what he believes is fraud and potentially illegal marketing activity related to Horizon Forbidden West. In particular, Hoeg Law attorney Richard Hoeg focuses on Sony’s commitment to providing players who purchase the PS4 version with a free upgrade to the PS5.
This announcement by Sony has been heavily criticized for a long time, but the company’s recent decisions have brought the game’s marketing under more scrutiny than in previous weeks. Speaking to The Washington Post at the time of the PS4 release, SIE CEO Jim Ryan said “nobody should be disappointed” that the game will run on both platforms.
He continued: “The PS5 versions of those games were built from the ground up to take advantage of the PS5 feature set, and we have an upgrade path for PS4 users to get the PS5 version for free. “Everyone has a choice, I’m actually quite pleased with the state of the game at the moment.” However, a year later, when detailing the different versions of Horizon Forbidden West, Sony said that “This benefit does not apply to the regular and special versions”, meaning that the player will only get a free upgrade if they buy the more expensive versions.
Players didn’t get the news, and a few days later, Sony U revealed plans to not offer free PS5 upgrades to users who purchased the Standard PS4 edition of Horizon Forbidden West. But this will be the last PS4 game to get a free PS5 upgrade, Ryan added, with all future first-party titles, including God of War Ragnarok and Gran Turismo 7, wanting to upgrade to the version. PS5 you have to spend 10USD.
However, the way in which Sony markets Horizon Forbidden West recently prompted Hoeg to accuse the company of displaying “greed”. The game will cost 59.99 USD compatible with both PS5 and PS4.