Last week, EA showed off next-gen FIFA 21 (along with Madden 21) during its “Next Level” reveal. In case you missed the trailer, you can watch it here.
While nothing seriously worthwhile was shown in the trailer, EA Sports did update the FIFA 21 website with several new features that will be available on the next generation of consoles (PS5/Xbox Series S). Most of these features sound like your usual marketing catchphrases aimed at generating buzz for the next iteration, but a few, notably Deferred Lighting and Rendering, Gameday Immersion, and Off the Ball Humanization sound like they could have a real impact on gameplay and the match-day experience.
Unfortunately, according to EA’s FAQ it doesn’t seem as if EA has plans to roll these features out to the PC version in year one:
Which version of FIFA 21 will be available on PC?
FIFA 21 on PC will be the same version as released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. We’ll have more information on it in the coming weeks.
While EA did throw PC players a bone making the game available on Steam (for the first time) as well as the traditional Origin, EA is following the same move from when they skipped out on making a PC version of next-gen FIFA 14 (the first FIFA title available on the PS4/XB1) opting to include the next-gen features in the next iteration, FIFA 15. Several features like the Ignite engine didn’t even appear on PC until FIFA 15.
While many PC gamers have the ability to mod games, and there are some excellent one’s out there, some believe it’s EA’s attempt to lower the scale for FIFA 21 to a level more accessible to all PC gamers and not just those with high-end specs. While this certainly could be true, it still ignores many who have the ability to enhance the game through their powerful machines.
Parity between PC and next-gen consoles when it comes to specs and performance is still to be determined, but this could be a trend the sports gaming community feels as we migrate to the next generation of consoles. I do not believe the PC version will lag behind the console version for many years, but even if it’s just for one year, that’s a bummer for PC fans out there.
PC FIFA players, does the potential for FIFA 21 being a PS4/XB1 port impact your purchasing decision?
