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Madden NFL 21 & FIFA 21 get December release dates for PS5 & Xbox Series X

EA's two flagship sports games now have a date for when they'll make their PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X debuts.

Ozzie Mejia

October 27, 2020 10:20 AM

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The next generation of consoles are set to launch in just a few more weeks. There are full launch lineups attached to both, but it doesn't appear that EA's line of sports games will be among them. While Madden NFL 21 and FIFA 21 are both available right now on the current console generation, they won't be available on the new hotness for at least another month. On Tuesday, EA confirmed that Madden and NFL would be hitting PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in December.

As has been offered for similar games, those who have already purchased the current generation version of either Madden NFL or FIFA 21 can upgrade to their next generation counterparts for free, as illustrated on the EA website. Madden players can carry over any progress from Face of the Franchise, Ultimate Team, Franchise, and The Yard modes, while FIFA players can bring along progress from FIFA 21 Ultimate Team and Volta Football. The offer to carry over your PS4/Xbox One versions of these games will be open all the way until their next sequels release, so if you find Madden or FIFA available for cheap either on Black Friday or through a digital sale, you can buy those and bring those along to the next-gen hotness for free. Of course, if you buy the physical versions of the games, you'll have to go through EA's help site to walk through the process of getting them onto the discless versions of the new consoles.

We had a few good things to say about FIFA 21 in our recent review, though we weren't entirely enamored with it:

FIFA 21 is about what you'd expect from a new FIFA release. Some quality of life improvements over the previous title though nothing that really signifies a leap in class from past games. That being said, the quality in the FIFA series is fairly high, giving EA Sports a nice cushion to fall back on every year. FUT maintains the same inherent issues as it did last year, despite some shiny new features. FIFA 21 is another serviceable, yet standard entry in EA Sports' soccer/football simulation series.

At least it's not Madden, though. We were less kind to that game in our Madden review:

As the current console generation winds down ahead of the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, EA has launched the latest iteration of their iconic Madden NFL football franchise for the older consoles and PC. Predictably, the game remains largely unchanged from what was delivered in previous years, though it contains enough new additions and color changes that the publisher could justifiably argue that it was not a simple copy and paste job. Fans hoping that EA would finally throw a bone to simulation-focused players will continue to go hungry while the microtransaction Ultimate Team bonanza remains the focus for another season.

But perhaps the next-gen versions of these games will hit greater heights. EA is boasting faster load times, more realistic player movement, more authentic game day experiences, and games that take full advantage of the new consoles' capabilities. We'll have to wait and see if that happens, but Madden NFL 21 and FIFA 21 are both set to come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on Friday, December 4.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?