Persona 5 Royal’s Japanese FAQ states there will be no PS5 upgrade plan for those who own the PS4 version

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-07-21 13:26 JST)

Atlus published a new Japanese FAQ page for the upcoming remasters of Persona 5 Royal on July 21 (JST). The FAQ reveals that an upgrade plan will not be provided for those who already own the PS4 version.

Persona 5 Royal is a complete edition of Persona 5 with additional content. The game’s characters go about their regular lives by day and tackle dungeons by night as the Phantom Thieves. The updated Royal version has an extra semester at school and adds even more volume to the already large Persona 5.

Persona 5 Royal originally launched for the PlayStation 4 in October of 2019, and a port is on its way to PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam and Windows Store) on October 21 of this year.

But for those that already own the PS4 version, no indication of whether there would be an upgrade for the PS5 was given. That is until today. The recently released FAQ states that no upgrade will be provided to owners of the PS4 version meaning if you want to play the PS5 version, you’ll need to buy the PS5 version.

This is pretty rare as most PS4 games with PS5 versions have at least some sort of avenue to upgrade. In cases where PS4 and PS5 versions were released at the same time, many have free upgrades. And in cases where the PS4 version was released first, many games only require a 100-yen (roughly $0.75) fee to upgrade in Japan. This is due to Japan’s Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (2K/EAA!!). It’s rare to see those who own the PS4 version of a game being asked to rebuy the PS5 version when it releases.

One recent example is SnowRunner which didn’t provide an upgrade to the PS5 version in Japan. According to Oizumi Amuzio who published the game in Japan, “At the request of the rights holder, there are some differences in its internal system between the PS4 and PS5 versions.” (related article in Japanese)

Were they looking into providing an upgrade option and gave up on the idea? Were they not even considering it in the first place? Did it get caught up in Japan’s regulations? Does the fact that they’ve dubbed it a remaster in Japan mean they consider it a different game that needs to be purchased again? All we can do is guess.

We are currently reaching out to Atlus for more details on the matter. Persona 5 Royal is now available on PS4. The game will be releasing for PS5 Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam and Windows Store) on October 21.