Sony has updated the Marathon Deluxe Edition store page after players bought a heavily discounted version of the game during its free-to-play week.
The Marathon free week kicked off alongside the release of Marathon Season 2, and fans playing the game – presumably getting a taste for Bungie's shooter and wanting to continue once the week is over – noticed a huge discount on the game's Deluxe Edition, listed for $14 on the PlayStation Store. Per the PlayStation Store listing, this includes "Marathon, 6 Runner Shells, 1 Premium Rewards Pass Voucher," and so on. But the important part is that it says it includes Marathon.
Except, Sony itself didn't quite have that in mind, as it's now included a statement on the page saying that for those who "already downloaded Marathon during the Open Play Week but have not purchased Marathon," then "purchasing this product will grant access to the Deluxe Edition content only for the duration of the Open Play Week, after which accessing this content will require the purchase of the Marathon base edition."
As a user on ResetEra points out, Sony doesn't offer a traditional "Deluxe Edition Upgrade" to players who own the game, instead they are offered the discounted rate on the Marathon Deluxe Edition, effectively meaning you are buying the game again, just at an updated rate. However, this discounted upgrade wasn't disabled for players who owned the game via its new free trial.
While users of ResetEra note that this would've obviously been seen as a price error by anyone who decided to buy it, given that Marathon is somewhat struggling, they argue Sony would've been better off taking this one on the chin and honoring the purchase for those who bought the mistakenly priced version. Or, at the very least do a mass refund for anyone who purchased it during the free trial period, so that anyone who doesn't see this new PSA doesn't get a rude awakening come next week. As one user puts it: "Users should automatically get a refund rather than having to deal with PlayStation's horrific customer support."
