PS4 to PS5 upgrades are, in principle, a relatively straight-forward thing: you buy the game on the PlayStation 4 and you get to download the PlayStation 5 version when it’s available. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is making things a little bit more confusing by the way it’s handling things, so we figured we’d browse through Activision’s alarmingly complex FAQ and break it down to you.
So, you can buy the game on the PS4 and play it on your PS4 – so far, so good. However, you’ll also be able to play that version of the game on your PS5, courtesy of PS5 backwards compatibility. But, as the publisher points out, “the game will not include any of the next-generation features, such as higher frame rate, hardware-based ray-tracing, faster load times, and more”.
If you want the PS5 version as well as the PS4, then you’ll be able to purchase the Cross-Gen Bundle which includes both – or a PlayStation Store upgrade. However, if you purchase the PS4 game on Blu-ray, you’ll need to have that inserted into your PS5 in order to enjoy the next-gen version. If you buy the PS5 Digital Edition, then you’ll need to buy the PS4 game digitally to play it on your PS5. Are you keeping up?
Right, there’s more: if you buy the Blu-ray version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on PS5, you’ll be able to play it on your PS5 – but it won’t work on your PS4 at all. There’s more information on that through here: Will PS5 Games Play on PS4?
To wrap things up, the game supports cross-play and cross-progression, so you’ll be able to continue playing with PS4 friends on PS5 and vice versa. More importantly, any progress you make in the PS4 game will carry across to the PS5 version. It’s unclear whether that progress will move backwards as well as forwards, but it sounds like it will.
So that’s everything, but let us know if you’re still somewhat confused and we’ll try to clear up the details for you. It’s complicated, but all of your queries should be answered in Activision’s FAQ if they haven’t been here. Hopefully other releases aren’t as confusing as this one, because we feel like we need a lie down now!
[source support.activision.com]
Comments 33
Live pictures of me writing this article:
What a disaster lol! The green versions are even more convoluted.
Ya know activision since even the worst COD sells like mad you could oh i dunno offer the free upgrade like the majority of developers are. Im sure youl still rake in most of the money in world
I do think some of the blame is on Activision here because it's insisting on the $10 increase. I understand, but it just adds a layer of confusion.
Many people make fun of Smart Delivery.... Smart Delivery is easy to understand compared to this mess.
In the garbled words of Mason/Sam Worthington, yao facking sanava boitch.
It's pretty well explained (and easy) on the official pre-order page, so nothing to ***** about.
all that maths in sammy's gif seems a lot easier to understand.
would have been easier to say buy the PS5 version which costs a £5 more and get the PS4 version for free to play early. all upgrade options for people who prefer to buy games physically are a real balls..
interesting it mentions higher framerates for PS5, it's usually a pretty reliable 60fps on PS4, so wonder if there's going to be a 120fps option, or whether performance on PS4 will be pared back to 30.
"PS4 to PS5 upgrades are, in principle, a relatively straight-forward thing: you buy the game on the PlayStation 4 and you get to download the PlayStation 5 version when it’s available."
This only counts for 12 games on your list so far. This is completely dependant on the publisher of the game so it isn't straight-forward at all, as this case proves.
@Jarobusa: this has nothing to do with smart delivery as COD Cold War is not a part of Smart delivery. So XBOX users have exactly the same issues as we have.
There's a far simpler and more straightforward option. Don't buy this ***** at all.
It was soooo much better last gen when you just paid £50 and called it a day.
@Heurtaux305 What I am saying is, I wish Smart Delivery was the industry standard. Otherwise chaos will reign.
@Jarobusa Sony and Microsoft shoulda both made it a forced madate tbh
"Cross gen games must get free upgrades if available on current and next gen"
Not like CoD, FIFA, etc would just suddenly not release on a platform because of it.
@Heurtaux305 As I said, in principle it’s straightforward.
To be fair I remember paying to upgrade ps3 games to PS4..... battlefield and NBA maybe??
Either way it sucks. It sucked then but BC wasn’t a thing and the whole thing wasn’t a selling point so it sucks more now
Next gen is off to a rocky milk the community start.
Hopefully Sony’s own games make up for it with free upgrades. I will be avoiding any games with this practise and picking up in the sales at a later date. I’ll give my money to games with free seamless upgrades
If i am not mistaken:
$60 PS4 version - works on PS4 and PS5 without next-gen improvements;
$70 PS4 version - works on PS4 and PS5 with next-gen improvements;
$70 PS5 version - works only on PS5 with next-gen improvements.
That last is wtf, just wtf, for same price, just worse
Tbh none of it seems complicated. Pretty straight forward really.
Though in saying that, I won’t be getting a PS5 till next year so it will be a much more straightforward process by then
Easiest thing to do is wait a few weeks until the Black Friday sales or failing that, pick it up a few months later when the inevitable price drops reach a point you are happy to pay and in the meantime, just play all the new games that aren't so greedy, paying their CEO's stupid amounts every year and making their investors richer at your expense...
Am I the only one who thought it was straightforward and made sense? It’s the exact same as last gen and was exactly what I expecting. Nothing confused about it.
They made that more complex than it needed to be.
I'll just buy the ps5 physical version and play it on ps5 if I can get it at launch, easy 😃
so if i buy digital ps4 version i wont get the ps5 version, but if i buy the ps4 disc version, i will be able to put it in the ps5 and get the next gen improvements for free? please somone tell me
It wan't really that hard to follow..i did not think it was really needed to point out the ps5 version wont work on the ps4..i'll just hang on untill its on sale as i am only interested in the campaign and i am sooo over the zombies mode as its never been as good as when it was first introduced in world at war..
@get2sammyb
You should have explained both the PS and Xbox versions in the same article for fun and sound like Cerny haha
Ordered the PS4 version for £55 delivered.
It should play in the PS5 anyway, and should also look slightly better, so not so worried about paying a lot more for the PS5 version.
@bangstar2004 No digital works the same as physical. If you buy digital PS4 you’ll be able to play BC on PS5, unless you buy the upgrade/cross-gen bundle which will get you the PS4 and PS5 versions.
I'll just do what I usually do and not buy CoD.
I've downloaded the Modern Warfare remaster... that's the last version I bought back on PS3, I liked the campaign, and it was 'free' with Plus.
@Heurtaux305
That's actually not true, Xbox has Smart Delivery for Cold War if you buy the Series X version. The Series X version (physical and digital) is playable at Xbox One.
@Northern_munkey Yeah, it's easy to understand that the PS5 version at disc won't work at PS4 when you look at the cover.
But, if you buy the PS5 version digital, you can suddenly play it at PS4 as well!
And Xbox? Yeah, if you buy the Series X edition you can play it at both current generation (Xbox One) and next generation (Xbox Series).
WTF? Why can't PS do that?
Haha I love the sub header "The Numbers, Mason" then I proceeded in my head to say "What Do They Mean". Absolutely loved the original Black Ops with the main menu layout etc.
@Jarobusa has nothing todo with smart delivery
Do I need to keep both versions on my hard drive when I buy the upgrade of can I delete the 40gb the PS4 version takes up?
I have progress of 33% on ps4 version how do I transfer that. My ps5 version sais 0% progress
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