EA's upcoming games will let you "upgrade" them to run on next generation consoles for free

News
By published

EA confirms its upcoming games will run on both current gen consoles in addition to PS5 and Xbox Series X

(Image credit: Respawn Entertainment)

EA has confirmed that its upcoming games for the current generation can be "upgraded free" to run on "next generation" hardware, most likely the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Speaking in an earnings call to shareholders and press last night, Electronic Arts COO Blake Jorgensen said that "this year the phasing includes the effect of revenue recognition from the games we are launching for the current generation of consoles that can also be upgraded free for the next generation."

It's unclear if Jorgensen is referring to either backwards compatibility (something both the PS5 and Xbox Series X possess), Microsoft's new Smart Delivery feature, or its own in-house programme that might allow owners of an EA title to apply for a next-gen copy of their product.

While we know that Microsoft will allow users to play the same title across all platforms in the Xbox family without extra pay walls, Sony has yet to confirm anything of a similar nature, so perhaps EA is alluding to something that PlayStation is close to announcing. 

Just recently, a job listing at EA owned studio Respawn Entertainment suggested that free to play battle royale Apex Legends will be launching on PS5 and Xbox Series X in the near future, and there's no telling how many titles the publishers plans to bring over with it in the jump to next gen. On top of that, EA also announced in this earnings call that we can expect to see several new titles from the publisher this year, including FIFA 21, Madden 21, and an unannounced HD title. 

Xbox is about to unveil a whole lot more details about the list of upcoming Xbox Series X games tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have a better understanding by the end of this week. 

For more, check out more upcoming PS4 games for 2020 and beyond, or watch our next gen episode of Dialogue Options below. 

Alex Avard
Alex Avard

Alex is a former Features Writer at GamesRadar, which once made him responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!