Early trial for Madden NFL 16 through EA Access will be 10 hours

With two consecutive titles getting 10 hours of early playtime through EA Access (Rory McIlroy PGA Tour and Battlefield: Hardline) it began to look like that could be a new standard through the Xbox One subscription service. All new titles prior to that, since EA Access launched last summer, had been limited to 6 hours.

Now EA has confirmed that the trial period for Madden NFL 16 will also be 10 hours. The game will open up for subscribers on Thursday, August 20. EA Access is $30 for a year, or $5 for a single month, and offers up a Vault of almost every EA game on Xbox One to date plus 10% off any digital purchases, in addition to the early trials for upcoming games.

That’s a significant chunk of time, clearly sufficient to judge whether the game is worthy of a purchase or not, but there’s still the “clock ticking down” in the back of one’s mind that can affect enjoyment of the game. It definitely had an impact on me last year playing Madden NFL 15, in having to decide how that time would be spent, and the most jarring moment when it just cut off without warning and shut down late in the fourth quarter of an intense and thoroughly enjoyable game. The extra hours however should really help in that regard.