Control’s Messy Next-Gen Upgrade Delayed To Next Year

The controversial PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Control won’t be out until sometime in “early 2021,” Remedy Entertainment announced today.

“We want the final quality of the game to be awesome, and so we need a bit more time to work on it,” the studio wrote on Twitter. Control will of course still be playable on next-gen hardware thanks to backwards compatibility. There it will likely perform better than the occasionally jittery PS4 and Xbox One versions.

[referenced id=”1130675″ url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/09/the-mystery-around-controls-next-gen-upgrade-restrictions-takes-another-weird-turn/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/09/12/hmp89ihuokojczwcxull-300×169.png” title=”The Mystery Around Control’s Next-Gen Upgrade Restrictions Takes Another Weird Turn” excerpt=”Owners of the original version of Control say they recently discovered it had automatically switched to the new Ultimate edition that ensures a free upgrade to next-gen platforms, raising even more questions about why the game’s upgrade process continues to be such a mess.”]

Today’s delay is the latest turn in what has become next-gen hardware’s weirdest port. Rather than update existing copies of Control for PS5 and Xbox Series X, publisher 505 has required players to purchase the new $US40 ($55) Ultimate Edition released over the summer which contains both of the game’s post-launch expansions.

505 also hasn’t supplied any way for those who already own the original version of Control to simply pay a nominal upgrade fee to unlock the next-gen version either. Meanwhile, many other games, ranging from new ones like Watch Dogs Legion to old ones like The Witcher 3, are getting next-gen upgrades for free.

On the bright side, the delay gives the publisher more time to re-evaluate its confusing next-gen upgrade policy.

Either Way You Should Probably Play Control:

[referenced id=”1025362″ url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/08/controls-awe-expansion-leans-into-horror-and-its-rad/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/08/27/m4mtog4c2fc0obb8p9xj-300×169.png” title=”Control’s AWE Expansion Leans Into Horror, And It’s Rad” excerpt=”Horror has always seemed right around the corner in Control. There’s a refrigerator that always needs to be looked at or it’ll kill you. A rubber duck teleports around maliciously. Your double is plotting your demise in a mirror world. Even so, horror was always the game’s selective spice, used…”]