Madden 23 Trial COUNTDOWN is over as the EA Play Trial unlock time lands early

The Madden 23 Trial is here, and it'll give players a great opportunity to see for themselves if this year's upgrades are enough to justify a purchase.

We've got all the details you need on when the Madden 23 Trial went live for EA Play subscribers.

Latest - Trial goes live early

While EA had stated heading into launch that the EA Play Trial would go live on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 along with Early Access, but they jumped the gun.

More than 12 hours ahead of the planned launch, the EA Play Trial has officially gone live and EA Play subscribers can start playing right now.

Head to the PlayStation Store, Steam Store, or Microsoft Store and look for a Free Trial option to initiate (even if you've pre-loaded using the trick below).

Once you have it live, you'll be on a 10 hour timer, so make sure you don't leave the game up in the background while you aren't playing.

They've had issues with the timer in recent years, so we suggest players close the app and then shut down their console entirely to ensure the timer isn't ticking in the background.

Madden 23 Trial COUNTDOWN: Release Time & Date

While some players may already have placed their pre order and be looking for the start of Early Access, those still on the fence will soon gain access to the Madden 23 Trial.

As they've done in recent years with all major EA Sports titles, the Madden 23 Trial will be exclusive to EA Play subscribers (included with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate).

PRE ORDER NOW: Secure your copy of Madden 23 before it arrives

With the worldwide Madden 23 release date set for Friday, August 19, 2022, we've also learned when the EA Play Trial will arrive.

Previous years have been a bit more complicated, but this year the EA Play Trial will land the same time as Early Access on Tuesday, August 16, 2022.

As for exact release time, listings on the PlayStation Store confirm a Midnight ET launch for Early Access, which would make it available at 11pm CT on Monday, August 15, 2022.

You can use the countdown clock below to see how far away the Madden 23 Trial release time currently is:

We've seen delays in past years, so there is a chance that EA may not have the trial live until midday on Tuesday, but as of now we're hopeful the simultaneous launch with Early Access will clear that up.

How to preload Madden 23 before the EA Play Trial unlocks

If you wanna start trying out Madden 23 the moment the trial goes live, Xbox users are the ones in luck.

As it has been the last few years, there is still an Xbox mobile app loophole which allows you to remotely download games to your console before you own them.

This means you'll be able to initiate a download for Madden 23 before placing a pre order, something handy as the ability to download via the trial likely won't be available until launch time.

Make sure you've set your console to allow the app to initiate downloads, and you can find Madden 23 within the app right now and hit "Download to Console" as seen below.

Make sure you have enough space for the download to initiate, which for Xbox Series X|S is just 46.14 GB this year.

That's down from a 61 GB file size last year, but it could increase with a Day One Patch arriving around launch time.

If you're not on Xbox, keep an eye on your platform store Monday to see when the Madden 23 Trial becomes downloadable.