The moment video game football fans spend their entire calendar year waiting for is now upon us. Madden NFL 26 arrives this week, with all the typical pre-game hype and cover star Saquon Barkley. That's Saquon of the backwards hurdle, Saquon of the incredible Super Bowl season, Saquon that the New York Giants decided Daniel Jones was worth more than. Sorry, Giants fans. Here's when you can play it.
Early Access Action
The MVP Bundle and Deluxe Edition of the game come with 7-day early access starting August 7. The MVP Bundle contains both Madden 26 and College Football 26 for $150. It's available for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Madden 26 is available for Nintendo Switch 2, but College Football 26 is not for some reason.
The Deluxe Edition of Madden comes with early access solo challenges, the aforementioned 7-day early access, 4600 Madden Points, a MUT cover athlete Elite Player item, a superstar Legendary XP boost, and Franchise Coach Ability Points. If you pre-order the Deluxe Edition by August 14, you'll also get a Hall of Fame Player Item for Ultimate Team.
Early Access Release Times
Pacific August 7 at 9 am
Mountain 10 am
Central 11 am
Eastern 12 pm
BST 5 pm
CET 6 pm
Bejing CST 1 am
JST 2 am
NZST 6 am
Regular Release
The official Madden 26 release date is August 14. Among the new features is the Wear and Tear from EA's College Football series. If you give your running back 20 carries in the first half, his attributes will drop severely until he gets a break. CFB 26 has an ability called Workhorse that limits the effects of this, and I'm sure Madden will offer something similar.
QB DNA adds over 500 new quarterback animations to the game, as well as new traits defining how they play. Josh Allen, for example, often plays the game like a running back. So he gets the Run Over trait that makes him more likely to seek out contact. The Snap Mischief trait is for QBs that like to do a lot of fake hikes, especially on late downs in short-yardage situations.
By the way, not all of the traits are positive. The Seeing Ghosts trait (sorry, Sam Darnold) takes effect after a sack. QBs with the trait will force throws on the next three passes, resetting after a drive ends.
The release times will be the same for the regular version as the early access, just seven days later. There is a 10-hour free play trial version available for EA Play members. Remember to close the application anytime you're not actively playing, because if the game is open the clock is running.