Every year in gaming sees a glut of new sports titles release, and the majority of those titles come from EA Games. Multiple franchises release on an annual basis like Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live, and UFC. That’s been the case for decades, and it’ll likely stay the same as players move onto the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
With the next-gen starting, many companies are adopting smart delivery and allowing players to instantly upgrade their PS4 or Xbox One copy of a game to next-gen. With big games like Cyberpunk 2077, having the promise of upgrading to a next-gen version for free is a huge motivation for purchasing.
Unfortunately, it looks like EA Sports isn’t following suit, even with a wide array of titles already confirmed for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Here’s how EA Sports games are already ruining next-gen gaming.
EA Sports Next-Gen Upgrades Are Convoluted and Confusing
Microsoft’s big program for next-gen upgrades is Smart Delivery, and other titles like Cyberpunk 2077 have already committed to the upgrade system. Sony doesn’t have its own system in place, but many games will still feature similar free upgrades. EA, on the other hand, isn’t using Smart Delivery and opting to use its system called Dual Entitlement. Ostensibly this works the same, allowing players to claim a free next-gen copy, however, there are some big caveats.
According to the press release for Madden NFL 21, fans will need to purchase the current-gen game by December 31, 2020, then upgrade to the next-gen version by March 31, 2021. These are strange fine print restrictions, especially for a mainstream game as widely played as Madden. The big problem, however, is that players that buy current-gen physical copies cannot upgrade it to a digital version with the discless consoles. More and more gaming is shifting toward a digital future, which has resulted in an all-digital version of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. It’s a huge loophole for fans to not be able to upgrade their physical version, especially since those discless consoles will cost less. If someone wants to get an upgraded version of Madden on their discless PS5, they’ll need to purchase only a digital copy.
A lot of the fine print for EA’s upgrades put some convoluted terms and conditions, and it’s frustrating that it can’t be as simple as buying the game, get the upgrade. Microsoft already has a system in place to take care of that upgrade, but for whatever reason EA is choosing not to embrace it. All these choices seem to only reinforce the yearly release cycle and encourage fans to buy the new game every year. However, it’s also possible that a large portion of the fan base won’t know about the conditions, or that a physical copy can’t be upgraded to a discless console. Games like Madden and FIFA appeal to a wide audience, many of whom don’t stay up on gaming news, so it’s easy to see how details like this could be missed. Either way, EA Sports games seem to be taking a less user-friendly approach than other companies and titles.
