DISPATCHES Dialogue

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- Jake Mellor, Paul Casey, Robert August de Meijer, Conor Clarke

The modern things

We live in the interesting transitional period between console generations, when some of us were lucky enough to grab a PS5 or Series X/S (constantly refreshing Twitter would be my tip), and others are still happily gaming away on now last-gen machines.

Now, I understand why new-gen games are becoming more and more pricey and harder to justify splashing out on, but what strikes me as odd is how, as new games continue to be released across generations, free upgrades are still on offer for people to capitalise upon when they finally get their hands on an elusive XboxStation 5.

Yet why are these different iterations priced differently? Surely I’m not the only broke cheapskate who, having spent most of his budget on the console, is buying the PS4 version of, for example, Judgment, and cheekily upgrading immediately for free, saving a considerable amount of money over the PS5 copy in the process? I’m no businessman, but it hardly seems like a profitable venture. This price difference seems exclusive to physical media; the PS Store commonly bundles both versions into a single price.

My question is, how long before retailers wise up to this exploit, or is it left to our consciences to refrain from such skulduggery? Free upgrades surely won’t be around forever, so, much like a game-breaking money exploit, isn’t it best to make the most of this cheat before the inevitable patch comes out?

Jake Mellor