EA Sports FC 26 is not off to a running start. There's a horrendous coin glitch that EA will have to get worked out, allowing some players to get god squads for pennies on the dollar. I started playing the 10-hour free trial to see if I plan to subject myself to more of this punishment. Because of constant crashing and failing to load, I was down almost of an hour of trial time before I was able to play a simple game of Ultimate Team.
There's also a tutorial game that allows you to get a few good players on loan to start your Ultimate Team journey. That crashed before I could play the game, and it doesn't appear that FC 26 was prepared for that possibility. I haven't been offered another opportunity to play that game, so the rewards I was supposed to get may be gone forever. This is a pretty terrible way to onboard players into EA's most profitable mode.
Also, this tutorial was supposed to teach me how to play the game. I'm a veteran of the past few years of the series, but somebody playing for the first time could have greatly benefitted from it. The week of early access customary with EA's titles is essentially charging us extra for the beta, and because we're offered a few decent Ultimate Team rewards we do it willingly.
This might be EA's glitchiest launch yet, and believe me, I do not say that lightly. I'm used to the online components of these titles being a crapshoot on launch week. FC 26 has crashed so much it took me nearly 40 minutes to even player a single-player mode.
If I didn't get paid to interact with this game, I seriously doubt I would again. I can't imagine a newcomer playing the trial will reach a different conclusion. Sports gamers have an embarrassment of riches right now, as College Football 26, Madden 26 and NBA 2K26 are all good and offer a variety of modes to enjoy.
The sad part is that during those rare moments I've gotten to play, there seem to be some major improvements. I'm sure diehard fans will wait these problems out, and there are certainly enough of them to continue lining EA's pockets. But this experience has been a "trial" of an entirely different nature.