EA restricts FIFA and Madden next-gen upgrades to special editions

EA has made changes to their Dual Entitlement program, and has restricted free next-gen upgrades for FIFA 22 and Madden NFL 22 to players who purchase the more expensive special editions of the games.

Dual Entitlement is an EA initiative that was introduced last year with the likes of FIFA 21 and Madden NFL 21, which allows players to upgrade to the next gen version of the game at no additional cost.

For FIFA 22 however, the next-gen upgrade is only available to those who buy the £89.99 Ultimate Edition, according to the game’s website. Those who purchase the £59.99 standard edition on last-gen consoles will need to pay an additional £69.99 to receive the next-gen version of the game.

This marks a departure from their strategy last year, when Dual Entitlement meant that both copies of the game were available in both the standard and ultimate editions.

EA is also facing backlash following its decision to make the PC version of FIFA 22 the last-gen version of the game. The next-gen version of FIFA 22 features “HyperMotion” gameplay, a combination of machine learning with 11v11 motion capture which is designed to improve players’ movement during a match.

With the announcement that this feature will be unavailable to PC players, fans have taken to Reddit to complain, as they often do. However, this was the same situation with FIFA 21, which was released on PC without the next-gen features in order to keep the game’s minimum specifications as low as possible.