EA is making its Dual Entitlement program more exclusive with the launch of FIFA 22, essentially meaning fewer players will be able to claim a free next-gen upgrade if they eventually make the leap from last-generation consoles to current-generation hardware.
As spotted by Eurogamer, the revised Dual Entitlement system will only allow those who buy the more expensive (and digital-only) FIFA 22 Ultimate Edition -- which retails for $79.99 compared to the $59.99 standard edition -- to upgrade their copy of the game from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X | S at no additional cost.
"Dual Entitlement is only available with the purchase of the FIFA 22 Ultimate Edition. The Standard Edition of FIFA 22 does not include Dual Entitlement," explains EA in a blog post. "That means if you purchase FIFA 22 Standard Edition on PS4 and upgrade to PS5 later, you would need to purchase the PS5 version of the game to play."
In contrast, FIFA 21 players were able to take advantage of the Dual Entitlement upgrade program irrespective of which version of the game they'd purchased.
"If you purchase FIFA 21 for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, you'll be able to upgrade your copy once you have the corresponding next-generation console (PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, or Xbox One to Xbox Series X|S) for free* by downloading it to your console up until the launch of FIFA 22," reads the explainer EA posted around a year ago.
EA didn't offer a reason for the change, but reminded players that anybody who buys the Standard Edition on last-generation consoles will have to repurchase the game on current-generation devices if they eventually make the switch. We've reached out to EA for comment on the changes.