How to make sure you’re playing the PS5 version of a PlayStation game

Following recent updates to Destiny 2, Control, and the formidable Nioh games, PlayStation 5 owners are in a golden age of cross-gen games. But, if you’re not careful, you could very well end up playing the PlayStation 4 version of a cross-gen game on your PS5. The horror!

Microsoft’s latest consoles, the Xbox Series X and S, offer the next-gen version of a game (if it exists and the developer hasn’t shut it down for a fee) through an automated process called “Smart Delivery”. It might sound like a non-functional feature – a term cooked up in a Seattle boardroom filled with communications majors – but it’s actually quite useful. You could reasonably argue that Smart Delivery is one of the defining features of Microsoft’s two next-gen consoles.

On PlayStation, however, the process doesn’t happen automatically. It’s too easy to download and start the PlayStation 4 version of a game that’s been around through generations (like Bugsnax, Control, or just revisited Nioh 2).

As a rule of thumb, pay attention to the text below a game’s icon on the main dashboard. If it says “PS4” next to the title, you’ve downloaded the PS4 version. If there is an arrow next to “PS4”, it means you not downloaded the PS4 version, but could easily by pressing the “X” button too quickly. (Yes, you can install both the PS4 version and the PS5 version of a game on your console.) If it doesn’t say “PS4” at all, it means you’ve downloaded the PS5 version. Good work.

To upgrade to the PS5 version of, say, Bugsnax, just hover over the game icon and tap on it. You will see a three dot menu. Click on it. Then select “PS5 | Complete | Bugsnax. After downloading you should be good to go.

The process is not always so smooth. Sometimes with PS4 games on disc, you may need to perform a series of additional steps. Last week Sony pushed an update which would have solved a pervasive issue in which the PS5 would download the PS4 version of a game, even if a PS5 version existed. Following the update, this should no longer happen.

But what if that Is?

Take Nioh 2 for example, which many of us have been playing since the release last week The Nioh collection sparked renewed interest in the series. Last November, Team Ninja ad a free upgrade for both games, which supports 4K resolution, frame rates up to 120 fps, and allows save files to continue. But, if you have installed Nioh 2 on your PS5 via disc before last week’s system update, you still won’t automatically get that PS5 version. Here’s how to fix it:

• You should see a Nioh 2 on the main PS5 dashboard on the Games page. (If an icon does not appear, go to your games library and start Nioh 2. You will only need to charge it for a split second to create the icon on your dashboard.)
• Hover over the icon and scroll down to the three dot menu on the game page.
• Click on it, then click “View product”.
• You will be taken to Nioh 2on the PlayStation Store page. Opening this three-dot menu should display a list of all available versions of the game: Nioh 2 – PS4, The Nioh collection, Nioh 2 Remastered (PS5 upgrade). Click on it.
• If your Nioh 2 disc is in the drive, you will see an option to download the free update.

PlayStation also brings an additional complication: a small suite of latest generation games that have received PS5 updates but have not received dedicated PS5 versions. For example, since the release of the PS5, both Ghost of Tsushima and God of the war have been updated for PS5. Both now run at a nice 60 fps frame rate on PS5, but are still technically (extremely pretty) PS4 games. The easiest way to discern exactly which versions of a given game exist is to navigate to the PlayStation Store page for a game that interests you. If you click on the three dot menu, you should see a list of all available versions. Only those who have a PS5 specific version will show a PS5 version available for purchase.

Xbox’s bland-named smart delivery feature sounds pretty good right now, doesn’t it?

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