NBA 2K21 next-gen upgrade to Xbox Series X explained

Upgrading NBA 2K21 from Xbox One to Xbox Series X (or S) comes with a hefty price tag if you didn’t buy the Mamba Forever Edition.

If you’re like me and watched the NBA 2K21 next-gen gameplay trailer and immediately decided you need to upgrade, well, it’s going to cost you. Unlike other publishers, 2K isn’t offering a free upgrade from the current- to next-gen version of the game.

So if you purchased the standard edition of NBA 2K21 on Xbox One, you’re going to have to pay to upgrade. And not just a smaller $10 upgrade fee, as some publishers are doing. You’ll have to pay full price again, only this time NBA 2K21 will cost $69.99 on next-gen consoles.

Now there was an option to get both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X versions of the game together with the Mamba Forever Edition, but this already had an upgrade fee baked in as the cost of this special edition was $99.99. Sure, it came with some extra digital goodies, like VC and such, but this was also the only way to get that seamless upgrade.

What sucks is that if you were unsure if you were immediately upgrading your console, you probably already purchased the Standard Edition of NBA 2K21. If that happened to be the case, well, it seems you are out of luck.

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It’s not a very consumer-friendly policy, at all, but looking at the next-gen version of NBA 2K21, you can kind of see why they are making fans pay full price. It’s a completely different game. The graphics and visuals are upgraded, the presentation has been revamped, and the gameplay look natural and fluid. NBA 2K21 is said to have been built from the ground up for next-gen systems, and it definitely feels that way looking at this first trailer.

That’s not to say it doesn’t suck having to pay another $69.99 on top of the $59.99 you might have already paid if you purchased the game on Xbox One, but seeing these upgrades at least somewhat justifies it. I just hope most people were aware of this when they initially bought NBA 2K21 and planned accordingly if they were thinking of buying an Xbox Series X at launch.

NBA 2K21 releases globally for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on November 10. The same upgrade policy is in place for PlayStation when upgrading from PS4 to PS5.