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Dear Xbox, I’m Sorry I Made Fun Of Smart Delivery

I’ll admit it, I thought Smart Delivery was just a made-up marketing term that Microsoft invented to describe two things we already had: backward/forward compatibility and cloud saves. Smart Delivery seemed like a way for the new Xbox Series X|S to turn something as simple as playing the same game on two different Xboxes into a revolutionary new feature, and I was first in line to mock it. Smart Delivery looked like the bare minimum, especially considering how weird the roll-out has been for this generation of consoles amidst Covid-related production complications. I still don’t think what Smart Delivery does should be considered ground-breaking, but compared to the way Sony has been handling cross-generation releases, Smart Delivery might as well be rocket science. So I’m sorry, Xbox, Smart Delivery isn’t a big joke. And Sony, can we get a little Smart Delivery, please?

This past week’s Horizon Forbidden West debacle was yet another in a long line of whiffs for Sony. When the Horizon sequel was still meant to be a PS5 launch title, a FAQ on Sony’s website explained that anyone who purchased a PS4 copy would get a free upgrade for the PS5. This way, anyone who hasn’t been able to find a PS5 yet can buy the game once, and play the next-gen version of the game later. When pre-orders became available last week, however, Horizon’s PS4 players learned they would need to purchase the Digital Deluxe version for $79.99. The negative reaction led Sony to double back several days later and once again offer the PS5 version of HFW to PS4 players as a free upgrade. Going forward, PS5 upgrades will cost $10 to cover the difference between the retail price of the PS4 and PS5 version of new games.

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Give Sony credit for following through on the promises that were already made, but the whole upgrade fee system is still a confusing mess. As far as Horizon Forbidden West goes, there’s absolutely no reason to buy the $70 PS5 version of the game when the $60 PS4 version comes with a free upgrade. The $10 upgrade fee mitigates this for future games, but it also encourages customers to play the used game market like they’re stocks. You can do this right now with games like Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding. Don’t pay $70 for the PS5 directors cut, instead, go find a used PS4 version of the game for $20-30, then pay the $10 upgrade fee and save yourself $40. The moment you can find a used PS4 version of any new game for less than $60, you’re already coming out ahead. I don’t want to have to keep track of price fluctuations in the used game market any more than you do, but this is the quagmire Sony has created.

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Meanwhile, you know exactly what you’re getting with Xbox thanks to Smart Delivery. Just buy a game and play the game. See how simple things could be? Any game you want to play, whether it’s on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, or PC, it’s available with your save file ready to go, and Microsoft isn’t going to try to nickel and dime you, either.

The weird upgrade fees aren’t the only thing Sony is screwing up. Transfering cloud saves has turned out to be a total nightmare as well for a number of games. When the next-gen version of Marvel’s Avengers launched, some players were completely unable to transfer their saves between games. Similarly, downloading the next-gen version of Destiny 2 at launch would automatically cause both the PS4 and PS5 version of the game to download. I still have multiple versions of the same game on my PS5, and don’t get me started on games like FF7R, which require you to download the PS4 version on the PS5 before you can upgrade to the PS5 version. We have a dozen guides on TheGamer about how to transfer games from PS4 to PS5, you know how many guides we have about transferring Xbox games? Zero.

When Microsoft revealed Smart Delivery, my first thought was “Well yeah, how else would it work?” Unfortunately, Sony has been answering that question a bunch of different ways ever since, and all of them are bad. I’m not about to enlist in the console war over this, but Sony’s approach to cross-gen this generation has been nothing short of an anti-consumer headache. If Xbox has Smart Delivery, then PlayStation has Buffoon Delivery, and I’m completely over it.

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