Madden 26 goes live worldwide on Aug. 14 after a week-long early access, and you can play the game for free during that period if you have a functional EA Play membership.
The only sustained way of playing the early access is to get the Digital Deluxe Edition, which costs notably more than the Standard Edition. This allows you to play seven extra days, which begins on Aug. 7. However, there's an alternate way to play the game (for a limited playtime) for a reasonable amount or for free.
How to play Madden 26 with EA Play trial?
The EA Play trial doesn't allow you to endlessly play Madden 26. That should be possible later in the year if EA Sports follows the same trend of the last few Madden games and adds this to the EA Play catalog, too (making them free to play with the subscription).
While you might not be able to play as much as you want, your EA Play trial guarantees ten hours of gameplay. This includes all game modes available in Madden 26, and you can progress as much as you want (in that time frame).
You can access the trial on your consoles or on PC. If you're on console, complete the following steps.
- Open your respective console store.
- Make sure that you have an active EA Play membership. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members won't require a separate membership.
- Once done, search Madden 26 and go to the store page.
- You'll find the trial to download and play (as long as your membership is valid).
- Alternatively, you can also find the trial under your EA Play membership in the Trials section.
The process is pretty much the same if you're on a PC.
- You'll need the EA Play app on your PC.
- Search the game, and you'll find the option to download the trial.
An important point: the trial version can't be pre-downloaded on any platform. You can download and play it only after early access goes live.
You can choose to convert your trial to a full version. You can do so by upgrading to the Digital Deluxe or Standard Edition. You'll also get a discount on your purchase, which applies to your EA Play membership. In that case, the price of your membership is automatically refunded (indirectly via the discount on your purchase).
If you have purchased the Standard Edition, you can use your trial to play up to 10 hours, and then continue when the full launch happens.
The post How to play Madden 26 for free (EA Play trial) appeared first on Destructoid.
