Players of Madden 21 who purchase the game physically on PlayStation 4 will not be given a free upgrade for PlayStation 5’s discless Digital Edition SKU.
The developer clarified the situation yesterday, explaining to fans of the series that their Dual Entitlement initiative for cross-gen will not convert physical games into digital licenses for those that purchase the digital only version of the PlayStation 5.
Despite this, Electronic Arts has said that they are looking into offering solutions for gamers who purchase a discless next-gen console although no current pathway exists.
“Physical discs cannot currently be used to upgrade to discless consoles,” the developer said in an FAQ.
“EA are actively looking at solutions to support those players who want to convert their physical copy to a digital entitlement. Currently no upgrade pathway exists from ‘disc to digital’ for those partners who offer a Next Generation discless console but we will continue to share any progress made in that space.”
EA’s support for cross-gen functionality with Madden 21 has been skewered. While the company will not be supporting the cross-generation Xbox Smart Delivery method of granting customers a cross-generation license to a particular title, they will have a timed period where players can upgrade.
While this new issue with cross-gen and backward compatibility is fairly new with the arrival of discless consoles like Xbox One S All Digital Edition and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, this issue is likely to continue when Microsoft announces their Xbox Lockhart system.