The countdown is over for the NHL 22 Trial and it's officially live with 10 hours of free Early Access gameplay now available.
Here's everything you need to know about the NHL 22 Trial now that it's officially live and ready for you to hit the ice.
Latest - NHL 22 Trial now released
The wait is over for the NHL 22 Trial, as announced by NHL 22 Community Manager Clappy!
We've been able to confirm the NHL 22 Trial is now live, and you can be playing already if you were able to pre-download on Xbox.
Users that pre-downloaded via the Xbox App will still need to launch the Microsoft Store on their console, find the game, press the EA Play Trial button, and let it "install."
That installation process will go by quickly because the game is already on your console, but it's necessary to unlock the title.
If you haven't downloaded it yet, you should be able to find the title in the store and get that process started now.
NHL 22 Trial: Free for 10 hours with EA Play Early Access
If you're eager to play the next evolution in hockey gaming, the earliest way to do that will be with the NHL 22 Trial via EA Play Early Access.
You'll receive 10 hours of free access to NHL 22, but the catch is you'll need to be a current EA Play (or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate) subscriber.
EA Play will normally cost you just $4.99 per month, though there is an annual plan and they will often have discounts for new users.
The official release date for the NHL 22 Trial is October 7, 2021, and while unconfirmed, we expect the release time to be 11am ET (10am CT / 8am PT).
NHL 22 Trial Release Time
Keep in mind that this NHL 22 Trial is restricted to just 10 hours of play, and you'll want to be careful to completely shutdown your console when you stay playing to prevent the timer from running in the background.
If you want to pre-download the title ahead of time, we've got more details here on how to do that and which platforms it's available on.
NHL 22 Early Access: Pre Order the X Factor Edition today!
If you already plan to get the full version of NHL 22, you can keep the Early Access theme rolling by choosing to pre order the X Factor Edition!
While the official NHL 22 release date is October 15, 2021, players who pre order the NHL 22 X Factor Edition will get Early Access to play as early as October 12, 2021.
That means you won't have to wait as long to keep going when your 10-hour EA Play Trial has expired.
The extra good news is that if you're subscribing to EA Play for the NHL 22 Trial, that will also come with a discount so you can purchase the NHL 22 X Factor Edition for a little bit less.
You can use the following links to pre order NHL 22 right now, including a few with discounts for EA Play members:
Microsoft Store
- NHL 22 Standard Edition on Xbox One
- NHL 22 Standard Edition on Xbox One (EA Play Members)
- NHL 22 Standard Edition on Xbox Series X|S
- NHL 22 Standard Edition on Xbox Series X|S (EA Play Members)
- NHL 22 X-Factor Edition on Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
- NHL 22 X-Factor Edition on Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S (EA Play Members)
Amazon
PlayStation Store
Best Buy