Sony won't charge for PS4 Pro patches for 4K and HDR (update)

Update: A representative for Sony told Polygon that the company "will not charge consumers for patches." We've asked Sony to clarify whether that applies only to games published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and will update when we hear back.

Jack Sipich, founder of developer Absinthe Games, said in a NeoGAF post that developers "are not allowed to charge you for patches or [PS4 Pro] feature updates."

Original story: Many existing PlayStation 4 games will be patched to add support for the PlayStation 4 Pro’s increased power and high dynamic range (HDR) color features. But the publishers of those games may charge players for those patches, reports Game Impress Watch.

When asked if the 4K or HDR patches for PS4 games would be free, Masayasu Ito, an executive vice president at Sony Interactive Entertainment, told the Japanese website Game Impress Watch (translated by Kotaku) that "it will be different for each title," depending on "the thinking of each licensee."

At that point, Ito was referring to third-party publishers. But when Game Impress Watch asked him to clarify whether the same would be true for games published by Sony, Ito said so, telling the site, "I think it will vary for each one of our titles."

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All PS4 models get HDR compatibility next week

A representative for Sony Interactive Entertainment told Polygon yesterday that there are at least two first-party games scheduled to be patched with PS4 Pro support at the launch of the console on Nov. 10: Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Sucker Punch’s Infamous: First Light. The rep also said that all first-party PS4 games coming in 2017 or later — including Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn, which was shown at the PlayStation Meeting this week — will support the PS4 Pro.

As for third-party titles, Square Enix’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Thekla’s The Witness, Activision’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, and Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls Online are among the games in the PS4 Pro’s launch lineup. However, only the announcement from Bethesda noted that the game’s PS4 Pro patch — which, in that case, will allow the game to run in native 4K on the console — will be free.

The Sony spokesperson confirmed to Polygon that a number of first- and third-party titles will also support HDR, including Horizon Zero Dawn, Sony Bend’s Days Gone, Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human and Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man.

We’ve asked Sony for further details on the pricing of PS4 Pro patches, and will update this article with any information we receive. For more on the PS4 Pro, check out our StoryStream.