EA Explains Why Some FIFA 21 Progress Won't Carry Over With Next-Gen Upgrades
There were "ultimately some trade-offs" made for next-gen console versions.
FIFA 21 is offering a next-gen upgrade path for players who want to jump up to the next console generation. That doesn't mean every bit of progress will make the jump too, though.
EA confirmed earlier this year that when users take advantage of the Dual Entitlement program to move between playing FIFA 21 on PS4 or Xbox One to PS5 or Xbox Series X | S, not all progression will carry over. Some of the most vital bits to dedicated FIFA fans, like Ultimate Team data and Volta progression, will still be able to move between consoles, but Career Mode and Pro Clubs will stay tied to specific consoles.
Speaking to Eurogamer, FIFA Executive Producer Aaron McHardy gave a brief statement on why the carryover works the way it does:
"When we start developing for a new generation of consoles, there's ultimately some trade-offs we need to make. So we decided that the time required to make all modes transferable was better used to build new features and improvements across the entire game, along with addressing feedback from our players. Since both Volta and FUT are server-based modes it made sense for us to focus on them as a way for players to carry over their progression."
Other games have had strange issues with save carry-over. For example, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales will let saves carry over from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, but the remaster of 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man won't support PS4 saves. Other games, like the PlayStation versions of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, won't support save transfers between PS4 and PS5 versions of the game.
With the increased focus on backward compatibility during the current transfer of console generations, clarifying what options are supported and how is a pretty good idea. Having some data be server-side seems to have helped with FIFA 21, but it's a good idea to keep an eye out, when buying current-gen games with next-gen upgrade paths, for what can actually make the leap.
FIFA 21 is out now if you've bought the Ultimate Edition. Otherwise, it's available in standard edition for PS4, Xbox One, and PC tomorrow, Oct. 9.
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