How to Play the Free College Football 25 Trial

If you haven't yet secured a copy of EA Sports College Football 25 and are just itching to see how it plays, there's good news as this will once again utilize the same free trial mechanic as other major EA Sports releases. We've seen this from Madden, NHL, and more for years, but the College Football 25 trial is unique in bringing back the franchise after a decade away. We'll go over exactly how you can take advantage of the College Football 25 trial and when it's due to unlock.

How to Play the College Football 25 Trial

Many die-hard players have likely already placed a pre-order for the Deluxe Edition of EA Sports College Football 25, but those still on the fence will soon get to try the game for themselves. If you're worried about it feeling too much like the same Madden gameplay of recent years or game modes not feeling like you wanted, today players will get a time-limited opportunity to hit the virtual gridiron.

Anyone who is a current subscriber to EA Play, or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as it comes with EA Play, can download the College Football 25 trial and play for free when early access begins at 4pm ET on July 15, 2024. The worldwide launch is still a few days out as it's set for 12pm ET on Friday, July 19, 2024, but even subscribers who put in a pre-order for the Standard Edition should be able to check out the trial.

Once the early access window arrives, you should simply be able to search the Xbox or PlayStation Store on your console and make the download if you have an active EA Play or Game Pass subscription. For those on Xbox, you can also get ahead of waiting on the download itself by triggering the download via the Xbox app. If your console is connected, you can find EA Sports College Football 25 on the app and hit "Download to Console" regardless of whether you already own a copy of the game.

As always, this will be a limited 10-hour trial. There have been issues in the past with the 10-hour timer continuing to tick down if the game is sitting in a Quick Resume standby format while your console is still on. With that in mind, we suggest anyone using the trial to fully close out and quit the game and shut down your console when not playing to ensure you don't lose time. After the 10-hour window has expired, you'll have to purchase a copy of College Football 25 to continue playing.