The PlayStation 4 Pro was unveiled earlier this week at Sony’s PlayStation Meeting in New York City. Featuring 4K output capabilities and a whole slew of upgraded hardware, the unit’s release later this year promises to rejuvenate the PlayStation 4 library’s graphical capabilities. But don’t worry about any hidden fees with the upgrade. All 4K and HDR patches will be free, Sony explained to Kotaku earlier today.
Sony fans were confused at first if 4K and HDR patches would be free. Covering a translation of an interview with Game Impress Watch, Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft posted a correspondence between Game Impress Watch and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Masayasu Ito that almost seemed to suggest upgrade patches will be paid DLC. But because 4K and HDR updates are patches, a Sony executive confirmed with Kotaku that they “will not charge consumers for patches.”
In the interview, Ito reiterated that upcoming Sony Interactive Entertainment first-party titles are all planned to support 4K features. However, he noted that pricing for enhancement patches will “vary for each one of our titles.” Meaning, depending on the publisher, some 4K and HDR upgrades will have more production costs than others.
But this is pretty standard concerns in development. When the original Kotaku article broke, NeoGAF opened a thread about the interview, and an indie developer confirmed the patching process first-hand.
“We are not allowed to charge you for patches or pro feature updates,” user Jacksinthe said. “Patches after launch can sometimes cost money (not fees but costs associated with making a patch), and supporting Pro when required is just absorbed into the launch checklist and approval.”
Jacksinthe further reiterated that “Patches can never be charged, nor can exclusive Pro content can [sic] be charged either.”
The entire confusion just reiterates how easy it is for information to be lost in translation. Because the Sony development process isn’t always transparent for consumers, it’s easy for comments geared towards publishers and developers to be misinterpreted.
Regardless, nothing has been officially revealed about the size and frequency of 4K and HDR patch releases. As the PlayStation 4 Pro’s November launch draws closer, stay tuned: We’re sure to figure out more.
