Remedy Gives You Control Over Your Next-Gen Graphics In February
Control is getting the next-gen console treatment. Remedy Entertainment announced this week that its paranormal action-adventure game is heading to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in the new year, complete with ray-tracing and a 60 fps performance mode. The news comes just weeks after Control joined Xbox Game Pass, following months of speculation.
The studio announced via Control's official Twitter account on Friday that the "Ultimate Edition" of the thriller will join next-gen consoles digitally on Feb. 2, followed by a full retail launch on March 2. The upgrade's standard 30 fps mode will support ray tracing, but a 60 fps performance mode will also be included. Remedy noted that it's working on the full trailer, but the studio did share a sneak peek. The teaser demonstrated Control's two modes on PS5 as the player switched from "performance" to "graphics," resulting in much more vivid coloring.
As Kotaku reported, the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S Control upgrades will be free to players who purchased the $40 Ultimate Edition when it was released over the summer. The standard edition of the game will not be eligible for upgrade, so even if players own the standard edition and its DLC, a purchase of the Ultimate Edition will still be required to access the game on next-gen systems. However, publisher 505 Games did explain in a blog post at the time of the Ultimate Edition's release that "the Control base game, the Expansion Packs, [and] the Season Pass" on PS4 and Xbox One will be backwards-compatible.
Control's next-gen upgrades were supposed to be released before the end of 2020, but Remedy revealed back in November that the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions would be delayed. "We want the final quality of the game to be awesome, and so we need a bit more time to work on it," Remedy wrote in a tweet.
At the time, fans were still in an uproar over the Ultimate Edition requirements, so the delay received some negative responses. One fan wrote that Control's next-gen upgrade path feels "very scammy" considering that many, many other titles are receiving upgrades completely free. Microsoft made it clear from the start that it wanted free game upgrades for the Xbox Series X, and many companies have agreed with this, but 505 Games has stood its ground. When Control's next-gen upgrades finally arrive, it's sure to be a big deal, no matter where fans stand on the controversy.