At Gamescom, Sony announced that select PlayStation 3 titles will be available to upgrade to their PlayStation 4 versions once the system launches on November 15 (North America) and November 29 (almost everywhere else). While other titles might be possible to upgrade in the future, the initial launch upgrade offerings will be Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch_Dogs from Ubisoft, Call of Duty: Ghosts from Activision, and Battlefield 4 from EA. In Europe, NBA 2K14 from 2K Sports will also be an option. Back in Germany, Sony had yet to reveal just what it would take to get your next-gen fix — deferring to publishers on the cost of going from one system to another. Now, we have the full details from the PlayStation Blog. To learn how, and how much it’ll cost you, read onward.

According to PlayStation’s Digital Upgrade page , users who purchase a PS3 retail copy of the aforementioned titles will receive in the packaging a voucher that can be entered on the PlayStation Store. From there, it gets somewhat complicated, so I’ll just recap for you: input the code, download it on the PS4, pop the PS3 disc into your… PS4? Wait, did I read that right?

…

Yes, in order to play the digital PS4 version of the game, you are required to keep the PS3 Blu-Ray disc in your PlayStation 4. To be clear, the system will not actually be reading game date from the disc–as PlayStation 3 games are not natively backwards compatible–but, it will require the disc as a form of DRM to ensure that you have a legitimate copy of the game. If you buy any of these four games digitally for PS3, however, you will just have to pay the upgrade fee and download them to your PS4 once you’ve waited for 12 hours in line at your local [insert retailer of choice] with 300 other people who can’t wait to do the exact same thing.

Activision had already revealed that Call of Duty: Ghosts would be available for around $10/€10/£10; EA announced it would also price Battlefield 4 similarly. To keep it simple, Ubisoft has fallen in step, and all four titles will be available for $9.99. If you’re planning to make use of this offer, it will only be available for each title for a limited time: Assassin’s Creed IV and Watch_Dogs upgrades must be purchased by January 31, 2014; Battlefield has to be upgraded by March 28, 2014; and Call of Duty gives you until March 31, 2014 to open up your wallet.

Discuss:

Will you be digitally upgrading your current-gen titles to next-gen? What other games would you like to see this available for?