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Sony may see itself as the premium platform in the marketplace these days, but it’s up for debate how long dedicated fans will continue to pay for the privilege of playing on the PlayStation 5. While the Japanese giant’s main competitor Microsoft continues to offer outrageous value through its Xbox Game Pass program, the PlayStation maker is hiking prices hard. Today’s announcement of Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut – an otherwise welcome and exciting reveal – is further evidence of that.

The game – already almost a year old – costs $69.99 on the next-gen console, an outrageous sum when you consider that the release has been available since 2020. Yes, it includes the new Iki Island expansion and a variety of other welcomed improvements, but this is effectively a Game of the Year Edition: a re-release that, historically, would retail for a lower price point not more. Sony, instead, is wringing every last cent out of its loyal fans.

The company’s commitment to its new next-gen pricing model means that it’s charging a $9.99 premium to upgrade the PS4 version of the Director’s Cut to the PS5 version, at a time when free PS4 to PS5 upgrades have become a standard. Heck, the platform holder allowed fans to upgrade their copies of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure free of charge less than a year ago.

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As far as we can tell, the major differences between Ghost of Tsushima’s PS5 and PS4 versions is the addition of Japanese lipsync, 3D audio, and DualSense support – mostly expected improvements for a next-gen upgrade at this stage. We’re sure there’ll be more under-the-hood work – a PlayStation Blog post refers to drastically improved load times, for example – but otherwise this sounds like fairly standard stuff for a PS4 to PS5 upgrade.

In the defence of Sucker Punch, it did add the excellent Ghost of Tsushima: Legends update for free, supported PS5 backwards compatibility excellently, and will add further content and improvements to all versions of the game for free – that shouldn’t go unnoticed. But with its competition offering such impressive value, PlayStation is beginning to look like the extremely expensive alternative. The platform holder would argue that you’re paying a premium for some of the best games ever made – it’s hard to disagree with that.

Yet, for as cliché and eye-rolling as this conclusion may read, for the players really does appear to be becoming for the payers.

How do you feel about Ghost of Tsushima’s pricey upgrade fee? What are your thoughts on PlayStation’s current pricing model? Cough up in the comments section below.