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Madden NFL 15 EA Access Trial Only Lasts Six Hours, Offers Access to Full Experience

Gamers are saying they lack the time to test the new mechanics

Aug 19, 2014 06:59 GMT  ·  By
Six-hour test
   Six-hour test

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has announced that a traditional demo for Madden NFL 15 will not be launched this year and that those who want to test our the game before it launches can do so only via the new EA Access, which is at the moment live for those who own an Xbox One home console.

The official Twitter account of the service says that at the moment the game is only offered before launch for a six-hour period for those who would like to see the new core features and get an idea of the experience they will have on launch.

Fans of the Madden NFL series have quickly reacted with anger, saying that six hours are not enough and that a more traditional demo, even if it was limited in terms of the teams that were available, was better suited to show off the core mechanics of the American football series.

Via EA Access gamers can download the full version of the game before it is officially launched and then experience any element of it for six hours.

The service also costs 5 dollars or Euro a month or 40 dollars or Euro per year, which means that many fans of the series will probably be unwilling to pay just to get access to the game for a limited period of time and to play older titles.

At the same time, EA Access is limited to the Xbox One and there are no plans to bring it to the PC at the moment, while Sony has said that it will not be offered on the PlayStation 4 because it does not offer enough value.

At the moment, the service also offers access to Madden NFL 25, FIFA 14, Battlefield 4 and Peggle 2, and more games will be brought in the coming months, with the total set to go over 100, according to Electronic Arts.

Demos tend to take away precious development time just when a studio needs to focus on the final polishing effort and that might be one of the reasons the publisher has replaced them with a limited trial.

Madden NFL 15 will be out on the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One and last-gen consoles on August 26 in the United States, and three days later in Europe.

For this year’s installment the developers at EA Sports are focusing on the defensive aspect of the sport and are also delivering improvements to the graphics and the presentation.