While FIFA 21 has been out for some time now, players will have to wait a little longer to upgrade their copy of the game to the next-gen version, but there’s a way to preload it to play as soon as it’s available on Xbox Series X and PlayStation5.
If you’ve been keeping up at all with what’s happening to FIFA with the switch to next-generation consoles, you’ll know that the game officially launches on the Series X and PS5, with all the necessary upgrades, on December 4.
If you’re upgrading your console within the same family — e.g. from PS4 to PS5 — you’ll be eligible for a free upgrade thanks to EA’s Dual Entitlement, as soon as the game officially drops.
But, you will be able to preload the game beforehand, meaning you won’t have to wait any longer than necessary and can get the ball rolling as soon as possible on December 4. Here’s how.
How to preload FIFA 21 on Xbox Series X/S
While you don’t necessarily have to upgrade thanks to Xbox’s backwards compatibility, there’s little reason not to.
With the Xbox officially launching, players are getting stuck into the action, but you can actually preload the next-gen FIFA 21 update ahead of time. All you’ve got to do is follow these steps:
- Turn on the Xbox Series X/S console.
- Click the Xbox button on the controller.
- Head over to My Games and Apps.
- Click Full Library, then All Owned Games.
- Download FIFA 21 Xbox Series X|S from there.
How to preload FIFA 21 on PS5
With the PlayStation 5 not yet out at the time of writing, it’s not exactly clear how preloading games will work on the new console.
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That said, we can guess based on the PS4 interface, and how it works on Xbox, that you’ll need to sign in to your account on the PS5 and head over to your games library, with the ability to preload the game ahead of time from there.
With the PS5 launching on November 12 in the United States, that’s when we’ll know for sure how you can preload the game.
What about physical copies of FIFA 21?
The situation is a little trickier if you’ve purchased a physical copy of FIFA 21, as opposed to a digital edition.
To upgrade your physical disc copy of the game, you will have to visit ea.help.com and provide the support helper with your EA account information. This should, hopefully, be a seamless transition.
For now, we’ll just have to settle playing the Xbox One or PS4 version of FIFA — but there’s really not long left now.