If you've recently bought a PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition, you might currently be wondering how to upgrade your trusty PS4 games to their glorious PS5 versions.
After all, much noise has been made - in the build up to the console launching - about the fact that the 'vast majority' of PS4 games will work on PS5. And you'd expect the games to get a bit better, or at least a bit speedier, thanks to the PS5's new tech.
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Keep on reading, then, and you'll find out how to make sure you're playing the PS5 version of your old PS4 game...
Can you upgrade old PS4 games to the PS5 version?
As Sony confirmed in a lengthy FAQ page, "Certain PS4 games can be upgraded to the digital PS5 version of the game on a PS5 console. When using a PS5 console, you may have the option to upgrade a disc or digital PS4 game to the digital PS5 version. Depending on the game, this upgrade may occur at no additional cost, may require a purchase, and may be available for a limited time. An internet connection is required. For more information, refer here.
"For an example, the PS4 version of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and the PS4 version of Sackboy: A Big Adventure both offer upgrades to the digital PS5 versions of the games at no additional cost. If you own PS4 versions of these games, simply visit the game’s Hub for that title on your PS5 (Note: you’ll need to insert the PS4 disc into your PS5 console first if you bought the physical disc rather than the PS Store version of the PS4 game), and you’ll see an offer to download the PS5 version."
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How to upgrade PS4 game on disc to PS5 version
As Sony explained in a separate help page, "To upgrade an eligible PS4 game on disc to the digital PS5 version, you will need a PS5 console with a disc drive. PS4 game discs can't be used with the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition."
If you have PS4 disc and a PS5 console with a disc drive, Sony says you need to follow these steps...
- Sign in to your existing account on your PS5 console (or create an account).
- Insert the eligible PS4 game disc.
- Go to the game hub for the PS4 game.
- Select the upgrade offer on the game hub and review the upgrade offer.
- Select Download (or purchase with the discount price) to download/purchase content.
- After the download is complete, you can play the PS5 digital game by inserting the PS4 game disc. You will need to keep the disc inserted each time to play the game.
There's just one problem. In its current form, when you insert your PS4 disc into the PlayStation 5, it will automatically trigger the PlayStation 4 version to download and install, requiring you to cancel this installation manually. How frustrating.
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How to upgrade digital PS4 game to PS5 version
Sony says, "To upgrade an eligible digital PS4 game you already own to the digital PS5 version", these are the steps to follow...
- Sign in to your existing account on your PS5 console.
- Find the PS5 game in PlayStation™Store, or by Search, and go to the game hub for the PS5 game.
- Select the upgrade offer on the game hub and review the upgrade offer.
- Select Download (or purchase with the discount price) to download/purchase content.
- After the download is complete, you can play the PS5 game.
Bear in mind that there is no way to put a PS4 disc into a PS5 Digital Edition (because it doesn't have a disc drive). Other than that, if you follow these steps, you should be able to play the PS5 version of your favourite PS4 games wherever such an upgrade exists!
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How to play PS4 games on PS5
Despite not pushing backwards compatibility as much as the Xbox marketing team perhaps did, you can play almost every PlayStation 4 game on the PS5.
To play this game, simply insert the disc into your new console, wait for it to download/install, and you'll be ready to go! If you want to redownload a digital version of a game, it's even easier. If you're signed into the same PS account, all of your owned games will appear in your library collection. Click on the game you want to play, and it will start downloading!
You can also transfer your PS4 games to the PS5 via an external HDD, or even store these games on an external HDD to use with your PS5. While this might impact your loading times, it's probably worth it to avoid flooding your precious SSD storage with old games!
Of course, playing these games on your PlayStation 5 could be pointless without your save data. To transfer your save data from the PS4 to PS5, you'll need to dust off your PS4 and upload your save data to the cloud. If this isn't done automatically, you'll need to go to Settings > Application Data Management > Saved Data in System Storage > Upload to Online Storage.
After its uploaded, you can put your PS4 back in whichever box you've now placed it in, boot up your PS5 and go to Settings > Games/Apps and Saved Data > Saved Data (PS4) > Cloud Storage > Download to Console Storage to download your save data!
There is, however, one caveat to this. If you want to upload and download your save data from the Cloud, you'll need to be a member of PS Plus.
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