EA locks cross-gen upgrade for NHL 22 behind a $100 “X-Factor Edition” preorder

At a time when studios and publishers are coming under fire for consumer-unfriendly cross-generation upgrade policies, Electronic Arts appears to have taken things even further with the upcoming NHL 22. In order to get “cross-gen entitlement,” as EA refers to it, players will have to shell out US$100 for a special X-Factor Edition of the game. Considering that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the games will retail for US$60, this implies that gamers would need to pay nearly twice as much for the cross-gen upgrade. 

NHL 22 moves the franchise onto the Frostbite engine, which means significant upgrades to all editions of the game. As of now, it’s unclear as to exactly what kind of upgrades EA plans to bring to the table for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, apart from a higher resolution and framerate. 

NHL 22’s stablemate FIFA 22 introduces a next-gen exclusive animation system called Hypermotion, alongside improved in-engine cinematics. If that’s the extent of NHL 22’s upgrades, cross-gen play might not make sense, especially considering how studios like 4A and id delivered significantly more in free updates to Metro Exodus and Doom Eternal respectively.