Update: An old tweet from the official Battelfield twitter account shows that Battlefield 4's China Rising DLC was originally meant to transfer from PS3 to PS4, even though current reports say otherwise.

@aandree15 Yes, your access to China Rising will transfer over when you upgrade to next-gen.

— Battlefield (@Battlefield) November 1, 2013

The tweet above occurred on November 1, which was after the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game released, but before the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions released. Players who bought the last-gen versions of the game who have upgraded to the current-gen version of the game using Electronic Arts' assorted promotions have encountered problems transferring the China Rising DLC.

Thanks to reader The MegaDude for the news tip!

Original story

Reports have surfaced via EA’s “Ask HQ” website that users opting for Battlefield 4 cross-generation upgrades are unable to transfer their DLC purchases from the PlayStation 3 version to PlayStation 4 (and possibly the same thing on the Xbox side). There are a variety of upgrade schemes in place covering disc-based and digital options, all of which cost users a $10 fee.

This information comes courtesy of EA user “buckethead232,” who posted a transcript of a conversation with EA support. We confirmed that a PSN user with the ID "BucketHead232" has played on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. During the conversation, the support representative states that the only way users could get the $14.99 China Rising map pack without paying for it directly was to pre-order a next-gen version or to be a Battlefield 4 Premium member.  

China Rising was also a pre-order bonus for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 purchasers. "BucketHead232" pre-ordered his PlayStation 3 copy and redeemed his packed-in China Rising code after acquiring his PlayStation 4 and paying the $10 upgrade fee.

“According to the latest updates, upgraded players have to purchase [China Rising],” says the support representative. We’ve reached out to EA to find out if this policy is working as intended (as the support representative indicates) or if there is a glitch in the system. For now, if you are planning on upgrading your Battlefield 4 version within the same console family, your DLC will not come with you according to this report (though the Premium membership will).

[Source: EA via Reddit]

Our Take
If this is operating as intended, EA is making an enormous mistake. It shuts out players who pre-ordered Battlefield 4 with the intention of upgrading (read: the loyal fans that EA needs so desperately right now).

Note that this is not a problem with Call of Duty. The Freefall bonus map was not only available after a next-gen upgrade, I was prompted to download it. 

EA’s got enough problems on its hands with Battlefield 4. This one is something they can make right immediately. Failure to do so would be an egregious misstep.