When EA unveiled Madden NFL 21 at the Xbox Series X games showcase in May, they confirmed that those who bought the game on the Xbox One would be able to upgrade it for free to an Xbox Series X version (though, as it turned out, only through their own “Dual Entitlement” program as opposed to Microsoft’s Smart Delivery). As is often the case with EA though, this came with a caveat, in that this would only be applicable if you bought the game by the end of the year, and chose to upgrade it before April 2021.
EA rightly received a lot of backlash for this, but it seems they’ve responded to that. Though there will still be a time limit in place for your free next-gen upgrade of the game, that window has now been increased, with EA confirming in a recent update that players will be able to upgrade to an Xbox Series X version of the game for free for an entire year, until Madden NFL 22 comes out. A program for next-gen upgrades without any caveats would be the ideal situation, but hey- at least it’s an improvement.
Madden NFL 21 is due out later this year for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia. The game was in line to receive its official unveil trailer earlier this month, but that got pushed back due to the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.