I bought the Deluxe for 80€ on day 1. I also bought the Yuffie DLC at full price. My first thought was that I can sell my copy it and just upgrade the PS+ version. Looks like it's a bit more complicated but we already have a work around in this very thread so I fail to understand the panic. These kind of threads can be used for some stealth console wars. Or at least sometimes that's the feeling I get.
I actually think I would get pretty good money for the Deluxe which is in pristine condition. So I'm pretty much a text book example of the issue discussed in the thread and not someone who just came here to post dUmB DeLiVeRy sUcKs. Yet my main takeaway is that people need to make more informed purchases and need to accept the fact that early adopters ALWAYS get the worst deal. You supported the game at day 1. You paid 70-80€. Yet the people who only use their console for mainstream online games like FIFA, GTAV or CoD are the ones that get the game for free a few months after launch. Now I'm left to deal with shitty game licence issues if I want to sell my game and everybody else just gets the PS5 version. All because I bought it day 1 so I got the worse deal. People need the accept that every game they buy at full price will pop up as a freebie sooner or later.
Also I wanted to add that I work in technical support for a multinational company currently and I think this 'Oh my god just fix this shit now' mentality is just childish. It's a single purchase that gives you multiple licenses and things will get complicated when subscriptions and retroactive upgrades for every different physical and digital SKU gets involved. These things can get messy from a technical standpoint and will probably lead to some unexpected technical issues. It doesn't surprise me at all that their infrastructure wasn't ready for this. The good thing is that this will probably reveal several shortcomings for the people working on the Store. I assure you that they are not some evil businessman in a suit. They're just normal people.
If the suggested workaround actually does work (I don't think anyone in here has yet confirmed), then that's great. However, a workaround for something of this nature should not be required in the first place, and will likely remain unknown to a whole bunch of people that would otherwise require it. All the posts up to mine that you've quoted came prior to any workaround being suggested, and in similar PSN situations there often haven't been any workarounds that solved such issues (such as playing a PS Now copy of a Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown overwriting my PS+ license for that game).
Sure, threads that shine a light on some negative aspect of any platform's functionality will always have some openings for subtle console-warring... but that's not a good reason to try and stifle what is generally more likely to be legitimate criticism. Nobody in here is really "panicking", that's an entirely dramatic portrayal of a number of people simply stating a given situation sucks. It was valid for people to complain about the PS+ version being left out in the cold for the upgrade in the first place, and it's similarly valid to complain that their later move to rectify that still manages to inadvertently screw a segment of players over (and in this case, it's those that actually paid more that get punished). I'd argue posters that come into the thread to dismiss these criticisms and paint those complaining as entitled whingers are far more likely to be doing so for console war reasons than those complaining are.
I currently work a DevOps position for my company, so it's not as though I don't also realise that things can be more complicated than simply "fix it!" behind the scenes. But you can't expect end-users who have no view into what the backend workings of a system are to give much of a crap about the specifics of why it doesn't work in the most logical fashion, or any poor early implementation decisions that lead to it. Sure, don't go cursing out a support rep, because yes, they are just human, almost certainly can't actually do anything to help you, and had no part in creating the system in the first place. Calling out Sony the corporation on the other hand shouldn't be hurting anybody's feelings.
If the digital game and the physical game are two independent SKUs, then the upgrades also should be, and there should be no problems claiming for both. It's not the end users place to figure out why it doesn't work that way, all they know is they've paid the same (and more) than others that can upgrade, but they're now not able to. That's not typical early adopter pains... they got the PS+ version at the same time as everyone else.
The option of convenience was not introduced with the PS+ version. Folks already decided not to take the option of convenience by going physical and then using the PS5 upgrade for it.
If you want to be able to pay for the upgrade again for your PS+ version just to not have to put in the disc or because you gave that disc away/traded it in, I'm sorry, you're a dumbass.
You're not entitled to the same content, DLC, MTX, etc in a version of the game you paid for as the one you redeemed for free as part of a service like PS+.
The option of convenience is inherently given with EVERY PS+ version of a game. It's a long established expectation that if you're effectively given a free digital copy of a game as part of the sub's offerings that you previously bought on disc, you can:
A) Stop fishing the disc out to play it in the future
B) Sell the disc version and play the digital copy going forwards instead
Nobody is expecting to PAY for any upgrade again. The upgrade is free. Your argument for entitlement is completely off base... the people that have no issues with this upgrade are those that paid NOTHING extra outside of their PS+ sub to play it. You shouldn't be entitled to less, because you paid more. That's stupid.
Buying a physical copy of a game generally does not forfeit your ability to own that same game in a digital manner later down the line. This scenario is an anomaly, and not one the users should be blamed for not predicting. You asked why someone would buy a digital copy in the first place. The reason is often because it's cheaper, and they can simply sell the physical copy and buy/receive an equivalent digital copy later down the line. This works in nearly all cases, and should be the case here too.
