FIFA 21: How to play PlayStation 4 opponents on PlayStation 5

Many people have been lucky enough to move to the next generation of consoles, upgrading from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 and from Xbox One to Xbox Series X/S.

As a result, they are now playing FIFA 21 on their new consoles, with improved graphics, load times, haptic feedback and more.

If you bought FIFA 21 on PlayStation 4, you can upgrade for free to the PlayStation 5 version using EA Sports’ dual entitlement offer.

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However, due to the PlayStation 5’s backwards compatibility, you can also play the PS4 version of FIFA 21 on PS5.

Can you play against PlayStation 4 FIFA 21 players on PlayStation 5?

In August 2020, EA Sports released a statement claiming that you cannot play “across console generations” in FIFA 21.

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You won’t be able to play across console generations or cross-play in #FIFA21.

However, you will be able to carry over your FUT progression from PS4 to PS5 and Xbox 1 to Xbox Series X. https://t.co/mUqU3zcAud

— FIFA Direct Communication (@EAFIFADirect) August 10, 2020

This means that you cannot play PS5 FIFA 21 against PS4 FIFA 21, but it is still possible to play PS4 opponents on PS5 by loading the PlayStation 4 version of the game onto the new console.

You can have both the PS4 version and the PS5 version of FIFA 21 installed on PlayStation 5, and use either version to play against or with specific opponents online depending on which console they own.

How to download PlayStation 4 FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5

If you played FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5 before December 3, then the PS4 version will already have downloaded to your console as the PS5 version was not yet released.

If you played FIFA 21 on PlayStation 4 first and then used the dual entitlement offer to install the game on PS5, then it is possible that the new console downloaded both versions of the game.

If you did not play FIFA 21 on PlayStation 5 until after December 3, you may have to download the PS4 version separately to the new console.

To do this, scroll to FIFA 21 in the Games menu and then scroll down to the “Play” option. You should see three dots beside this. Click on these, and you should be given additional options including “FIFA 21 | PS4.”

Click on this and the PS4 version of the game will start downloading. Once it has downloaded, you will be able to play both the PS4 version and PS5 version on PlayStation 5.

How to switch between PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 FIFA 21

Once you have downloaded both the PS4 and PS5 version of FIFA 21, you can easily switch between the two after turning on the PlayStation 5 console.

From the Games menu, scroll to FIFA 21. The game’s title in the menu will indicate which version you are currently playing. It will say “PS4” beside the name if it is the PlayStation 4 version and just say “FIFA 21” if it is the PlayStation 5 version.

To change to the other version of the game, press down to show the “Play” button and other options. Click the three dots icon to open the other options.

One of these options will be the other version of the game, either “FIFA 21 | PS4” or “FIFA 21” and clicking on that will change to that edition.

If that edition is not yet installed on the console, it will download it before you can play.