Next gen is already showing that developers and publishers each have a unique marketing strategy going into launch.

While the likes of CD Projekt RED and Ubisoft are offering free next-gen upgrades for their big upcoming titles, others are doing it differently.

Today, 505 Games and Remedy have announced a Control Ultimate Edition for £30 which bundles the base game and its two DLCS – The Foundation and AWE – together in one package, release beginning August 27.

While all this sounds fairly standard, Remedy have also confirmed that owners of the Ultimate Edition will get a free next-gen upgrade when Control becomes available on PS5 and XSX at the end of the year.

However, Ultimate Edition owners will be the only ones entitled to this as previous owners of Control and its DLC will not be eligible. Yikes!

Considering the poor performance of Control on a base PS4 model, this is a pretty disappointing move. The frame rate is, shall we say, sluggish and the game has clearly been designed with new systems in mind.

Patches over the course of a year have helped with the game’s performance, but it still really struggles when the action gets hot and heavy. Put it this way, it’s the first time I’ve almost gone out and bought a PS4 Pro. Almost.

However, Control is approaching a full year old now unlike your Cyberpunks and Valhallas which are shipping so close to the release of the new consoles. We can’t necessarily expect the consumer-friendly approach Microsoft have been waxing lyrical about this generation on older games, especially since there has been some resistance from publishers.

The fact is, you’re going to have to pay to play Control on next-gen systems, whether you buy the Ultimate Edition from August 27th – which also coincides with its long-awaited Steam release, by the way (Console versions release September 10th) – or you wait until the next-gen versions launch later this year and a physical release pops up in 2021.

On the bright side, AWE is out in a few weeks!