Avengers PS4 to PS5 save migration is messy and complicated

Crystal Dynamics advises players on how to tackle the unnecessarily confusing and frustrating task of PS4 to PS5 save migration.

Managing cross-gen saves is a big pain point on Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 (so is the limited storage). We've reported on this multiple times, and took off points for it in our official PS5 review. Now Avengers players are learning how aggravating the process can be.

As outlined in a series of confusing tweets from Crystal Dynamics, Avengers players have to go through a few steps in order to bring their PS4 saves over to PS5. The issue is that both PS4 and PS5 versions of a game can be installed on the PS5 at the same time. Sony's next-gen console also separates the saves by each console gen. So there's a PS4 save, and a PS5 save. PS4 saves can be migrated to PS5, but PS5 games are stuck on the PCIe 4.0 SSD.

With this in mind, Crystal Dynamics has built a save migration tool right into Marvel's Avengers. Here's how to migrate your Avengers save from PS4 to PS5:

1. Launch the fully patched PS4 version and go to the save migration tab on the main menu to initiate the upload. Once the migration is done, launch the PS5 version, where you'll be prompted to download the data.
2. Even if you have the PS4 and PS5 version of the game on the same console, save migration is necessary to boot the save on the PS5 version.
3. You'll need to download the latest update for the PS4 version so you can download the PS5 version. If you're running the version of the PS4 game that has not been updated, you won't see the save migration tab, and won't be able to transfer save data.

The process is needlessly complicated and only goes to show how Sony has rushed specific parts of the PS5 out the door. Microsoft, on the other hand, supports Smart Delivery on Xbox consoles which automatically scales each version of a game depending on the system. There's no redundant installs, no dual-gen game installs, and no issues with saves.