Support NeoGAF

[ranmafan]

So I just found out a bit of interesting information from a friend here in Japan about certain ps5 upgrades to games that as far as I know hasn’t been talked about. He decided to download His copy of “No Man’s Sky” on his PS5 to play with the ps5 upgrade. However he told me he had to pay a ¥100 fee in order to get the ps5 version. I thought this was strange as the upgrade is supposed to be completely free. So I checked the PlayStation store here in Japan and found this is true:

It says if you have the PS4 version you will need to pay ¥100 for the ps5 download version. This doesn’t just apply to those with the disk version as his PS4 version was digital originally. This is also true for Borderlands 3 as well. This as far as I know hasn’t been communicated by anyone from Sony or by any of the media and I fear this will become the norm in Japan. There used to be a ¥100 fee for Z rated games on PlayStation Plus until this month but that’s now gone. But this just seems so wrong. So a heads up to fellow gamers in Japan and who buy Japan based games. You might see such fees on these upgrades.

Update - please read post 26 for new info but it does appear that in at least one case, for borderlands 3, the ¥100 fee was added due to a Japanese law and a legal ruling of some sort. Here’s a link in Japanese that mentions it:

4gamer article on Borderlands 3 next gen upgrade in Japanese

the most important part is the paragraph with an * at the beginning

 

[EliteClarity]

IIRC, Free upgrades were up to the developers, Not a blanket demand by Sony.

 

[Fuchalmania]

So about US$1 with conversion.

 

[ranmafan]

Yes just a dollar. It’s strange this is only a Japan thing and all these developers that talked about free upgrades are saying nothing in Japan about it. Very unfair to Japan based gamers.

 

[Hypnosekroete]

In german store the PS5 upgrade for maneater costs 25cent

 

[Mojoraisin]

Is it even worth charging a dollar with credit card fees etc? Just seems so pointless.

 

[ranmafan]

Is it even worth charging a dollar with credit card fees etc? Just seems so pointless.

I could see a benefit if disk owners get the digital version out of this like it says and therefore don’t need to use the disk (not sure if that’s happening though) but yeah even PS4 digital owners have to pay is silly. Obviously different regions different rules but it would be nice for the developers to mention this in their advertisements for the upgrades.

 

[Deleted member 740922]

#ForThePayers

 

[michaelius]

Yes just a dollar. It’s strange this is only a Japan thing and all these developers that talked about free upgrades are saying nothing in Japan about it. Very unfair to Japan based gamers.

Maybe it's some local law?

 

[Akuji]

It’s a small fee. Play the bc version of u don’t like it. I don’t see the Problem. Actually I prefer it that way. Most likely it’s a way to track data on how well the game holds value and people are ok with spending a Buck more on their games.

 

[Portugeezer]

Probably some legal issue.

 

[ranmafan]

Maybe it's some local law?

I doubt it but it could be anything. Like I said Z rated games did have a fee until this month. Cero isn’t law but it’s treated as such. The fee was basically a way to get you to confirm you are an adult by using a credit card, the only way that was allowed to pay it. But that was removed starting this month and now just a credit card on file is needed. I can understand borderlands since it is z rated and maybe it’s been grandfathered into that fee, but no mans sky is just a b rating. I think it’s just a way to get some money from gamers here.

 

[plip.plop]

shut up

 

[yurinka]

It's up to the devs to give away for free new versions of their games or to charge for them, not Sony.

 

[ranmafan]

An interesting update on this. Borderlands 3, which also has the ¥100 charge for the PlayStation upgrade, has the upgrade on Xbox series x/s in Japan for free. I find this quite odd. Why make that one free and not the PlayStation version?

 

[Killer8]

So about US$1 with conversion.

 

[Oddvintagechap]

I was like damn 10 dollars, that kinda sucks. Then I saw it was a dollar. They just want a credit card on file.

 

[Keihart]

It's weird but maybe cool? i mean, does this include any PS4 Tittle with a PS5 version? because if so, than that it's better than what we have in other regions since some games you are expected to buy again for the next gen version.
On the other hand if this only includes those PS4 tittles that have free PS5 upgrades than it's a scam and it's probably something enforced by the store, which is kinda really weird...

At least is only a dollar, it would be could if you could upgrade any tittle for a dollar, regardless if the dev wants to give away or not their next gen version.

 

[ranmafan]

I was like damn 10 dollars, that kinda sucks. Then I saw it was a dollar. They just want a credit card on file.

I would agree with you on that in the past however, like I said before, that was what Sony used to do in Japan in how they handled Z rated games for PlayStation plus, by charging you the 100 yen. Now they no longer don’t. You still need to have a credit card on file but no longer have to spend any money.

Its a weird thing for sure. Would be nice to get info on who and why they decided to charge and why that amount. I expect to see it with more games in the future, like perhaps Yakuza like a dragon.

 

[ranmafan]

It's weird but maybe cool? i mean, does this include any PS4 Tittle with a PS5 version? because if so, than that it's better than what we have in other regions since some games you are expected to buy again for the next gen version.
On the other hand if this only includes those PS4 tittles that have free PS5 upgrades than it's a scam and it's probably something enforced by the store, which is kinda really weird...

At least is only a dollar, it would be could if you could upgrade any tittle for a dollar, regardless if the dev wants to give away or not their next gen version.

As far as I can see on the Japanese store so far this only effects No Man’s Sky and Borderlands 3, two games that have been advertised to have free upgrades to next generation versions. Heck looking at Japanese video game news sites none of them mention this ¥100 charge and only mention that a free upgrade was coming.

for me, I just have an issue about how it’s free everywhere else but a dollar here. It doesn’t make sense, especially considering borderlands upgrade is free here in Japan on Xbox for some reason. Now if the price of the upgrade meant you could go from a disk based version to a digital one completely that would be nice. But unfortunately as I found out via a friend who got charged, it’s also for digital owners as well.

 

[post-S]

I think it’s some legal issue. Doesn’t they also charge you for CoD beta in Japan and Germany?

 

[ranmafan]

I think it’s some legal issue. Doesn’t they also charge you for CoD beta in Japan and Germany?

Again like I said before, it wasn’t a legal issue but an issue with CERO in the past. Basically Z rated games are the Japanese equipment of AO rating in the us (although far more draconian than the ao rating.) Due to CERO’s guidelines no Z rated game can be purchased by anyone under 18. Sony made sure of this by requiring a credit card charge of ¥100 to prove you were of the age. This was for all z rated games and demos. This did effect Borderlands 3 and it’s possible it was grandfathered into this situation. But like I also said above, Sony has stopped the ¥100 charges for z rated games on PlayStation plus, and now just require a credit card on file. This just started this month.

however that still doesn’t explain No Mans Sky, a game that has a B rating which 12 and up. I cant imagine any single legal issue in Japan that would cause such a charge. It doesn’t make sense. Either the developer or the publisher decided to do this for some reason which we don’t know why.

 

[Keihart]

Sounds like Sony thing then. Super weird.

 

[Investor9872]

So I just found out a bit of interesting information from a friend here in Japan about certain ps5 upgrades to games that as far as I know hasn’t been talked about. He decided to download His copy of “No Man’s Sky” on his PS5 to play with the ps5 upgrade. However he told me he had to pay a ¥100 fee in order to get the ps5 version. I thought this was strange as the upgrade is supposed to be completely free. So I checked the PlayStation store here in Japan and found this is true:

It says if you have the PS4 version you will need to pay ¥100 for the ps5 download version. This doesn’t just apply to those with the disk version as his PS4 version was digital originally. This is also true for Borderlands 3 as well. This as far as I know hasn’t been communicated by anyone from Sony or by any of the media and I fear this will become the norm in Japan. There used to be a ¥100 fee for Z rated games on PlayStation Plus until this month but that’s now gone. But this just seems so wrong. So a heads up to fellow gamers in Japan and who buy Japan based games. You might see such fees on these upgrades.

Those cheeky Japanese!

 

[Codes 208]

So about US$1 with conversion.

That’s still a dollar more than what was publicly advertised

 

[ranmafan]

So I did a little more digging this morning, and it seems we might have an answer to this new ¥100 charge. And, credit goes to everyone who suggested a possible legal issue, it does seem indeed it might be a legal issue after all. And a very strange one at that. I did some more checking on news sites here using Borderlands 3 as an example, and I found a recent article that explains what happened. In the case of Borderlands 3, the game was indeed announced to have been a free upgrade in Japan for both PS5 and XBOX. However in an article at 4gamer.net, theres a footnote on a news article talking about the release from a few days ago that says due to a judgement regarding unfair prices in Japan and an Unfair Display Prevention Law of some sort, the PS4 version had to be switched to a paid upgrade. Looking at a translation of the law its very vague and its hard to see how it applies (but having lived in Japan for almost 15 years now Ive learned vague laws get applied to everything always).

Now I was wondering why this could be especially for the playstation version? I mean why is the xbox version not a paid upgrade if there is some judgement or law causing this. Well Borderlands 3 was only released in Japan physically on Playstation. No Man's Sky also didn't get a physical release here on xbox (and I'm not even sure it got any official release here on xbox) but did on PS4. So it appears that in order to keep it fair to people in some way in regards to buying the physical version or whatnot, the price has to be implemented. But theres no real detail into it other than this strange small note that it applies to this law. Now that there is a slight explanation out there, I would expect any game coming out with a "free upgrade" to the next gen version that got a physical release in Japan at least will have to have this fee. Looking at whats coming out, I would expect Yakuza 7 to be one of those situations. It certainly sucks but there you go, it indeed was a strange legal issue, so to those that said it was possible that I must apologize and say good job on bringing up that information. One things for sure though, for once XBOX gamers in Japan get a nice advantage over Playstation gamers.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

So I did a little more digging this morning, and it seems we might have an answer to this new ¥100 charge. And, credit goes to everyone who suggested a possible legal issue, it does seem indeed it might be a legal issue after all. And a very strange one at that. I did some more checking on news sites here using Borderlands 3 as an example, and I found a recent article that explains what happened. In the case of Borderlands 3, the game was indeed announced to have been a free upgrade in Japan for both PS5 and XBOX. However in an article at 4gamer.net, theres a footnote on a news article talking about the release from a few days ago that says due to a judgement regarding unfair prices in Japan and an Unfair Display Prevention Law of some sort, the PS4 version had to be switched to a paid upgrade. Looking at a translation of the law its very vague and its hard to see how it applies (but having lived in Japan for almost 15 years now Ive learned vague laws get applied to everything always).

Now I was wondering why this could be especially for the playstation version? I mean why is the xbox version not a paid upgrade if there is some judgement or law causing this. Well Borderlands 3 was only released in Japan physically on Playstation. No Man's Sky also didn't get a physical release here on xbox (and I'm not even sure it got any official release here on xbox) but did on PS4. So it appears that in order to keep it fair to people in some way in regards to buying the physical version or whatnot, the price has to be implemented. But theres no real detail into it other than this strange small note that it applies to this law. Now that there is a slight explanation out there, I would expect any game coming out with a "free upgrade" to the next gen version that got a physical release in Japan at least will have to have this fee. Looking at whats coming out, I would expect Yakuza 7 to be one of those situations. It certainly sucks but there you go, it indeed was a strange legal issue, so to those that said it was possible that I must apologize and say good job on bringing up that information. One things for sure though, for once XBOX gamers in Japan get a nice advantage over Playstation gamers.

This situation doesn't even make sense.

When has any company that makes software been forced to charge for upgrades? But I guess Japan has weird laws.

 

[Tschumi]

^^ Maybe the thread title aughta be edited, mods, to "(UPDATE): It's a legally required fee" or something~

 

[EDMIX]

lol I'm trying to figure out when Sony bought Hello Games and Gearbox.....

 

[ranmafan]

^^ Maybe the thread title aughta be edited, mods, to "(UPDATE): It's a legally required fee" or something~

Yeah it should be updated I think as well to add the new info. I’ll add to the first post too.

This situation doesn't even make sense.

When has any company that makes software been forced to charge for upgrades? But I guess Japan has weird laws.

It is strange that’s for sure. There’s not a lot of info and it’s very confusing. There are some strange laws here and sometimes even normal ones get interpreted very weird here.

 

[LectureMaster]

It probably has something do to with Japan's content rating system. Some PS plus free game also charges you 100 Yen for credit card checking matter (that your age is old enough to have a credit card.)

 

[Mistershine.]

So they offer a free upgrade to both physical and digital owners but have to charge ¥100 to make it fair to physical owners??

 

[Hudo]

Man, Sony seem to have looked at Japanese banks for inspiration. Japanese banks charge you for fucking EVERYTHING.

 

[ranmafan]

So they offer a free upgrade to both physical and digital owners but have to charge ¥100 to make it fair to physical owners??

It’s still not certain but from reading the law in question, that is my guess. The article that explains the reason doesn’t go into much detail why. Just gives the reason. But yeah heads up to gamers who buy games in Japan, I expect more of these charges. They are small but annoying.

 

[Wizz-Art]

 

[reptilex]

Japanese will eat your spit and pay for it if there's a gacha lolicon of *insert VG/anime franchise* to win for it.

They can blame their own cultural degenerescence regarding digital content and the laws that were passed.