FIFA 21 "No Cross-Play" Highlights Break Between PS4, PS5, Xbox One X, Series X

The soccer (football) game FIFA 21 will not allow players to meet across console generations, console to console, or console to... anything else, really. EA noted this week that users will be able to carry over their progression from an older console generation to a newer generation, but no cross-play will be available for anyone, at all, ever. This might well be the first major example of the dropping off point between generations of consoles released at the tail end of 2020.

Both PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 and Xbox One X to Xbox Series X are supposed to be very cross-generation friendly. Users should be able to play older games on newer consoles, play with the same account on either older or newer consoles, and even carry over older accessories to newer consoles. But that's not always true.

Microsoft and Sony have made big deals of how much work they've put into making their new gaming consoles bring new life to older games. They've made it a big deal that their newest consoles will have more access to games from past years than any console that's come before.

But according to EA Games' EA FIFA Direct Twitter account this week, "You won't be able to play across console generations or cross-play in FIFA 21." EA Games is not about to go the extra mile to make that possibility a reality. If you buy the game for PlayStation 5, and your friend had the game for PlayStation 4, you will not be able to meet your friend in a game online.

If your friend had an Xbox One X, purchased FIFA 21, then decided to move to FIFA 21 on Xbox Series X, they WOULD be able to meet you on the pitch. If you purchase FIFA 21 on Xbox One X, you'll get a free upgrade to Xbox Series X – the same goes for PlayStation 4 to 5, just so long as that transition is made before the month of October, 2021!