Xbox Tells Developers Next-Gen Game Upgrades Should Be Free

In a bold move, Xbox has told game developers not to charge players who choose to upgrade their current generation games to Xbox Series X versions as DLC.

Effectively an alternative to its free Smart Delivery scheme, publishing sources with knowledge of Microsoft‘s next-gen policies told Video Games Chronicle that companies working on games for both Xbox 360 and Xbox Series X to offer both versions at no additional cost through either Smart Delivery or their own schemes (i.e. EA’s Dual Entitlement).

Developers and publishers who will not support Smart Delivery may still offer owners of current-gen games a discount on purchasing a second next-gen version of the game on the Microsoft Store. Third-party publishers might also charge for physical game upgrades through their own respective schemes, such as retailer promotions.

As of the moment, several games have already announced that they will have next-gen upgrades free of charge. These include “Cyberpunk 2077,” “Destiny 2,” “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,” and “FIFA 21.”

This, however, is not an imposition by Microsoft. Rather, the Xbox parent company wants to give publishers and developers several options on how to sell their games across the Xbox One and Xbox Series X, not necessarily following their policies.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Video Games Chronicle through a statement that “developers and publishers ultimately decide how they deliver their games, and we work with them to provide the best possible experience based on their needs.”

Xbox’s Smart Delivery initiative allows consumers to purchase a supported cross-gen game once, on either Xbox One or Xbox Series X, and unlock the other generation version at no additional cost.

For example, this enables players to purchase “Halo Infinite” for Xbox One this holiday, then if they decide to purchase an Xbox Series X console at a later date, the fully optimized version of “Halo Infinite” will unlock at no additional cost.

This is not the same as backwards compatibility though. That will allow the next-gen console to run legacy Xbox One games with some performance benefits but won’t offer the same experience as the version built specifically for next-gen hardware, including features such as ray-tracing.

2K Sports is doing that with “NBA 2K21,” not offering any upgrade scheme for Xbox One owners who are thinking of moving up to an Xbox Series X. Instead, the game will sell a $99.99 bundle that includes both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X, or PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game.

Furthermore, cross-gen games that don’t support Smart Delivery will be treated separately within the Xbox ecosystem, with only certain Xbox Live elements – such as multiplayer – unifying the generational versions. Take “NBA 2K21” and “FIFA 21” as examples. Both operate outside of the Smart Delivery ecosystem and do not share certain save data across generations.

On the other hand, Smart Delivery games will share a single SKU, all Xbox Live elements – including saves, achievements, and more – and launch the correct versions for each console regardless of which generation’s game disc is inserted.

For its part, PlayStation is reportedly not pushing its own Smart Delivery style initiative and instead leaving next-gen upgrades entirely up to developers. At present, PS5 games are matching Xbox’s free upgrade policy.