Play Madden NFL 15 early with EA Access — but for only 6 hours

Madden NFL 15 is bringing football action to consoles next week, but you can play a complete version of the game early if you are an EA Access member.

As part of its recently introduced subscription service, publisher Electronic Arts is enabling players to download a feature-complete version of its games five days before their official releases. With Madden due out Aug. 26, EA Access subscribers can start playing the gridiron simulator on Thursday. The only stipulation is that the trial will end after you play for six hours, but any progress you make will carry over if when you unlock the final release.

“That’s six hours of the real game, so you can explore Franchise mode, trash talk in online multiplayer, build your dream team with Madden Ultimate Team, and more,” reads EA’s blog.

To clarify, that is six non-consecutive hours. That means you can spread your Madden action across multiple hour-long sessions if you choose.

This is the first game that the publisher is releasing under its EA Access Play First feature, and it intends to do something similar for all of its upcoming games. That includes hockey sim NHL 15 and fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The company confirmed that trial length and other factors will vary depending on the game, so don’t expect that you’ll get to play through the first six hours of Dragon Age: Inquisition uninterrupted when it debuts in November.

In addition to the trial, EA Access members will also get a 10 percent discount if they purchase Madden NFL 15 digitally.

EA Access debuted earlier this month. The service, which is only available on Xbox One, enables gamers to pay $5 per month or $30 per year to get an instant library of older EA releases as well as the Play First full-game trials and 10 percent discounts on digitally purchased games and downloadable content.