Control publisher has somewhat of an explanation for why only Ultimate Edition owners get next-gen upgrades
505 Games is very aware of the reaction to its recent decision with Control: Ultimate Edition.
A week ago, Remedy and 505 Games announced the Control: Ultimate Edition, a complete package that includes the base game as well all post-launch expansions.
What the Ultimate Edition includes is identical - in terms of content - to what you get by buying the base game and the season pass separately. However, only Ultimate Edition owners get a free upgrade on PS5 and Xbox Series X. This bizarre distinction hasn't been very well received by many, particularly those who already own all of the content in the Ultimate Edition and don't see the point in re-buying it.
In a blog post, publisher 505 Games attempted to explain why that is, though the explanation is hardly convincing.
"We spent several months exploring all of our launch options for Control Ultimate Edition and no decision was taken lightly," wrote 505 Games.
"Every avenue we pursued, there was some form of blocker and those blockers meant that at least one group of players ended up being left out of the upgrade for various reasons. As of today, we can’t offer an upgrade to everyone, and leaving any one group out feels unfair. We understand that is not what you want to hear."
Specifically addressing how both the Ultimate Edition and the game with the season pass are essentially the same thing, 505 Games said that the goal with the former was to "offer the full Control gameplay experience to new players in a single, easy-to-find product."
The publisher did not say why only owners of the Ultimate Edition get the upgrade, just that it is "unfortunately unable to offer an upgrade path to all existing Control players."
It's worth keeping in mind that existing owners of Control on PS4 and Xbox One will still be able to play the game on PS5 and Xbox Series X through backwards compatibility, but that obviously won't be the upgraded experience Remedy is currently working on.
Control's Ultimate Edition releases August 27 on Steam, PS4 and Xbox One, and later this year on PS5 and Xbox Series X.
A an earlier version of this article attributed the quotes to developer Remedy, when they are in fact written by publisher 505 Games. We've updated the story to reflect this fact.