Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut Seems Like Money Grab

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is costing $69.99 for PS5 and $59.99 for the PS4. The PS5 version of the game is $9.99 more expensive than the PS4 version of the game. The next-gen upgrade is also available for the game but it’s not free. You have to pay that $9.99 difference whenever you get PlayStation 5 and want to play the PS5 version of it. A limited number of players are going to pay to update their game from PS4 to PS5 version but Sony is not missing even that profit. Let’s find out what is Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut?

Extra Content

Ghost of Tsushima has everything that every edition of the game had. Meaning that I will have all the content that PlayStation has sold so far as in-game content and items. Along with the base game Director’s Cut will also include the Iki Island expansion. It is a brand new story that is only available in this version of the game. The Iki Island expansion will be available on both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game.

The game will also be optimized for the PlayStation 5. It will utilize adaptive triggers and haptic feedback of the DualSense controller on PS5. The PS5 version of the game will also have 3d audio enhancements. Other features include a drastic decrease in load time, better Japanese lip-sync, 4K resolution option, and 60FPS. Cost of the upgrade to these features is $9.99 from the PS4 version of the Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut.

Summary of The Cost

Below is pricing posted on the PlayStation Blog.

If you already own Ghost of Tsushima on PS4:

• You can pre-order an upgrade to Director’s Cut on PS4 for USD 19.99. This upgrade will become available starting on August 20.
• If you bought Director’s Cut PS4, you’ll be able to upgrade to Director’s Cut PS5 at any time for USD 9.99
• You can also upgrade directly (from the original Ghost of Tsushima PS4) to Director’s Cut on PS5 for USD 29.99

Let’s break down the cost and see where PlayStation is heading. Keep in mind that this is still not the proper next-gen version of the game. Spiderman Miles Morales has a proper next-gen version with everything that you would expect from a PS5 game. There is no raytracing and the game is just a PS4 version that will be optimized for the PS5.

If you buy the PS4 version of the game, then you would still need to pay $9.99 to get the PS5 optimized version of it. So a person will be buying optimization for $9.99. PlayStation is forcing you to pay $9.99 for the next-gen version of it which is outrageous since it is the only optimization. You play the PS4 version of the game on the PS5 through backward compatibility but it will only boost the frame rate. The PS4 version of Ghost of Tsushima is playable at 60 FPS on the PS5. Unlocked FPS and High Resolution are one of the main reasons that I prefer Gaming PC since have to worry about purchasing a game multiple times.

Pricing of PlayStation Games Is Increasing

Next-gen games are going to cost $69.99. Even some cross-gen games are costing $69.99 which is absurd since the PS4 or Xbox One version of the same game costs $59.99. If you want to buy a PS4 version of the game then you would have to pay $9.99 to get the PS5 version of it. Such a precedent is not good but it is somewhat digestible because these are proper ports with raytracing.

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is a different story. It is adding proper Japanese voice-over lip-syncing, DualSense Functions, and 60 FPS at 4K. Lip syncing was the developer’s fault, to begin with. So players are only paying for the features which are available on many other games for free. Next-gen game prices are rising but their quality is not justifying it (Just talking about games in general not Ghost of Tsushima). High FPS at 4K is present on the PC port of a game from the beginning.

PlayStation is spearheading the industry with next-gen game prices while at the same time ripping people off for a game that they already own on their 8^th gen console. That’s a new low from the PlayStation because developers have no say in it since PlayStation is the publisher. Even Xbox is not charging players for optimization not to mention that the Game Pass is a game-changer. Don’t get me wrong I think that PlayStation 5 is a great console. However, with such tactics PlayStation is driving away even their loyal fan base.

Verdict

Sony has been dominating the console war with PlayStation 4 due to the missteps of Microsoft with their Xbox One. This time, it seems like Sony is getting anti-consumer. With the Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, they are hitting a new low when it comes to pricing. Xbox has Smart Delivery and Game Pass which is turning the tide. It does not seem like a smart move considering the way Microsoft is handling Xbox Series X. With such greedy tactics PlayStation is making a bad reputation for themselves which could be devastating for them in the future.