EA has announced that FIFA 21 will launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 9, 2020, bringing it to the end of the current generation of consoles. Fortunately for fans who are currently thinking more about the next generation of PS5 and Xbox Series X, FIFA 21 will be part of EA's new dual authorization system. With Dual Titlement, players who purchase FIFA 21 on PS4 or Xbox One will be able to upgrade to the corresponding next-gen version for free. Basically, it looks like the EA version of Xbox Smart Delivery. At this time, EA has not confirmed a release date for the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of FIFA 21; Information on this will come later in the year, but the free update will be available at the release of FIFA 21 later this until the release of FIFA 22 in 2021.
Rules to follow
In an FAQ, EA has detailed some upgrade rules that need to be followed, but they seem pretty straightforward, the biggest being that you can only upgrade from Xbox One to Xbox Series X or from PS4 to PS5 – no cross platform here. EA also notes that those who purchase a physical copy of FIFA 21 on PS4 or Xbox One will need to insert the disc into their next-gen console to download the update and play the game. So if you grab a physical copy of FIFA 21 for PS4, you'll have to opt for PS5 which has a disc player. If you plan to go disc-free with your next-gen purchase, just make sure you buy FIFA 21 digitally this gen because "physical discs cannot currently be used to switch to disc-less consoles." After you download your next-gen update, you'll still be able to play on PS4 and Xbox One, though EA promises "extremely fast load times, delayed lighting and rendering, improved animation tech, humanization off-ball, and more" to come to fruition, you may not want to. According to EA, any progress you make or content you purchase in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team and any progress made in Volta will carry over from current generation to next generation and vice versa. However, any progress made in modes like online seasons, co-op seasons, career mode, and pro clubs "will be specific to the console you're playing on and won't carry over between consoles." When it comes to next-gen FIFA crossplay, EA has no exciting announcements to make, writing "allowing our players to play each other on the platform they're playing on is one of our long-term goals. For the time being , we have no news, but we continue to investigate its integration and will share updates when we have them. "