The timing here is rough. Obsidian Entertainment delisted the original version of The Outer Worlds on May 27, promised everyone who owned it a free upgrade to The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition, and then promptly failed to deliver that upgrade to a chunk of its console player base. With The Outer Worlds 2 on the horizon and goodwill being a finite resource, this is not the moment to fumble a giveaway.
How a goodwill gesture turned into a support ticket
The sequence of events matters here. Obsidian announced the base game would be delisted on May 27, giving players a heads-up to grab it before the storefront window closed. At the same time, the studio confirmed that anyone who already owned The Outer Worlds digitally would receive a free upgrade to the Spacer's Choice Edition, which was previously a paid product. That's a genuinely generous move, especially for a three-year-old remaster that launched in early 2023 with its own set of technical problems.
The catch? Physical copy owners on PS4 and Xbox One were never explicitly included in the upgrade offer. And when May 28 rolled around, Obsidian acknowledged on X that the rollout had gone sideways "due to how entitlements work on the consoles." The core problem is that PS4 and Xbox One players who own only the base game also need the expansion pass to access the Spacer's Choice Edition upgrade, which strips the word "free" from the entire offer.
If you purchased the base game on Xbox One or PlayStation 4 between April 30 and May 27, Obsidian's support team is handling cases individually. Contact them directly to get the situation resolved.
The platforms where things went wrong (and right)
The breakdown is not uniform across platforms, which makes the situation messier to parse. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players are the most affected, with the entitlement issue blocking the upgrade path for those coming from last-gen physical copies. PC players on Steam appear to have had no such problems. GOG users, though, have flagged their own issues with the upgrade, suggesting the problem is not strictly a console platform thing.
Obsidian's official statement offered a workaround rather than a fix: reach out to support if you bought the base game between April 30 and May 27, or if the upgrade simply is not appearing, and the team will sort it out on a case-by-case basis. That is not a scalable solution, but it is something.
Player reaction is exactly what you would expect
The response on X has been blunt. One user called it a "scam" outright. Another pointed out the irony of a game built around satirizing corporate greed fumbling its own consumer-friendly gesture. That second one landed particularly hard given The Outer Worlds' entire satirical premise.
Here's the thing: the frustration is understandable. Players who specifically went out and grabbed the base game during the announcement window, expecting the free upgrade to apply, now find themselves stuck in a support queue. The base game is delisted. The upgrade is not working. And the studio's fix is essentially "email us."
For a studio gearing up to release a major sequel, these kinds of friction points matter. Players heading into The Outer Worlds 2 for the first time will want to experience the original first, and right now that path has a pothole in it. If you are already in the Spacer's Choice Edition and looking ahead to what the sequel brings, the beginner strategies and best builds guides are worth bookmarking for when that time comes. For now, affected players should contact Obsidian support directly and keep records of their original purchase dates.
