How to upgrade NBA 2K21 from PS4 to PS5

If you purchased NBA 2K21 on PS4, here are your options for upgrading to the PS5 version.

This week, 2K gave us our first look at NBA 2K21 on next-gen consoles. A gameplay video was released with footage captured on the PlayStation 5 and, wow, did it look stunning. The facial animations looked lifelike and the dribbling and shooting looked smooth and fluid. Let’s just say, NBA 2K21 definitely made quite a leap from the curren-gen version to the next-gen version.

Which begs the question, if you purchased NBA 2K21 on the current-gen PlayStation 4, how do you upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version? Unfortunately, while some publishers are offering free upgrades between console generations, 2K is not doing so with NBA 2K21.

That means if you purchased the standard edition of NBA 2K21 on PS4 for $59.99, you’ll have to pay full price to upgrade to the PS5 version which, as we previously learned, will cost $69.99. There’s no simple $10 upgrade option where you pay the difference in each version’s price.

That said, there was one option, the Mamba Forever Edition, that provides dual-access to both versions of NBA 2K21, allowing a seamless transition between consoles in the same family. However, this was priced at $99.99, so you were still paying quite a bit.

If you bought the Mamba Forever Edition on PS4 digitally, you’ll receive a digital copy of the PS5 version of NBA 2K21 on your account when the game launches on November 12. If you bought the game physically on PS4, the next-gen copy is bundled in a code that’s inside the box taht provides a digital copy of the game to your PlayStation account on PS5.

Honestly, it’s a crappy upgrade policy, especially when so many other publishers are offering free or discounted upgrades. But looking at the next-gen trailer released, it’s understandable why 2K is charging more. It looks like a completely different game and it’s clear 2K put in the extra work needed to make NBA 2K21 look amazing on PlayStation 5.