Elicenser and Cubase projects finished in previous Cubase versions

Cubase 13 here, upgraded from 10.5 some months ago.
When I open Cubase 13 and try to open a project that I did in 10.5, Cubase opens version 10.5. This behaviour has always been there in Cubase since ages, even if for instance Microsoft Word 2020 still opens Word 1993 files and gives you the option to leave them as they are or convert them to the newest format at the expense of some different rendering (I understand that in the Cubase some VSTis were dropped in the meanwhile and could not work, but this could be managed at startup). What will happen to my previous projects when e-licenser service will be dropped ? Is there a way to upgrade them that i don’t know? What is the fastest way to port a multitrack in 10.5 into a 13.0.41 project?

The .cpr project file format is not dependent of the Cubase version you are using. IOW, a project started with C10.5 should open in a seamless way in C13.

Run C13/file/open/choose your cpr

Cubase 13 will open .cpr files all the way back to Cubase SX which was released in 2002.

Thank you all, in fact I open them: I got confused because, when I run C13, choose File/open I see up it says “Cubase 10.5.20 Project File”. But indeed it is v13, for instance I see chord pads and MIDI Remore in the Lower Zone

Because that’s the version that last saved the Project file - that’s the version of that specific Project. If you then used Cubase 13 to Save the Project the message will go away.