The much anticipated PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrade for Fallout 4 is available now, but so far it doesn’t work for PS Plus owners.

It might have originally been due out last year but it’s not hard to see why the next gen update for Fallout 4 was held back until now, although Bethesda could never have imagined the TV show would be quite as popular as it has been.

The next gen update does feature some new content but none of it has any real connection with the show, although there’s a pretty substantial new quest and some other additions. The biggest draw though is the improved graphics, which are aimed at getting the nine-year-old game closer to modern standards.

Although Bethesda announced an April 25 launch for the update it wasn’t entirely clear when it would come online, but it’s available now for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and… at least some PlayStation 5 owners.

PlayStation 5 owners who have a paid-for copy of the game can download and install the update but those that only have it via PS PlayStation cannot. That’s not the case for Game Pass though, even though those people also haven’t bought it separately.

It’s currently unclear whether this is an accident or on purpose, but given Microsoft owns Bethesda it doesn’t seem to be a mistake.

Bethesda has not yet clarified the situation but a post by an official on Discord (with their emphasis on ‘own’) implies that this is not an accident: ‘PS5 Upgrade should be available for you if you OWN Fallout 4 on the PSN account. Still looking into this for the PS+ users!’

Additionally, the PlayStation 4 (and Xbox One) versions of the game have been updated today as well, to include the extra content and stability improvements but not the graphical upgrades, and that is already available for PS Plus subscribers.

That all makes it seems as if the lack of an upgrade is purposeful, even though Game Pass subscribers don’t own the game either.

Fallout 4 was offered as a free download on PS Plus long before Microsoft bought Bethesda and according to the usual rules, as long as you remain a subscriber you’re free to play and download the game as much as you want.

The implication now is that if you want access to the next gen update you’ll have to buy the game separately. At the moment it’s only £15.99 on the PlayStation Store, whereas prior to the release of the update it was only £3.99.

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