EA FC 25 early access: start date, preload and file size for PC, PlayStation and Xbox

Players who pre-ordered the EA FC 25 Ultimate Edition, EA Play Members, and EA Play Pro members can get early access to EA FC 25. This is when EA FC 25 early access begins.

We're now just under three weeks away from the worldwide release date of EA FC 25, with the latest instalment of the EA Sports FC game series set to be released on Friday, September 27. Ahead of the release, EA Sports has been treating players to first looks at the new game, including a gameplay deep dive, an Ultimate Team deep dive, and most recently, revealing the 25 highest-rated men's players and 25 highest-rated women's players.

EA FC 25 pre-orders for went live at the beginning of July, and as well as earning bonuses such as FC Points and Ultimate Team Hero items, a pre-order bonus for the EA FC 25 Ultimate Edition was early access to the game. It's EA, so of course, EA FC 25 early access is convoluted, with players with an EA Play subscription get early access to EA FC 25 on a 10-hour trial, while EA Play Pro members will be able to get early access to the full version of the game.

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So, when can players with early access start playing? Here's the EA FC 25 early access start date, preload, and file size for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

EA FC 25 early access start date

The EA FC 25 early access start date begins on Friday, September 20 at 12am local time – that is, if EA follows the same release schedule as EA FC 24. The game's early access period went live at 12am local time, so if this year's instalment follows suit, you can play the game as soon as the clock strikes midnight in your region. If EA announces a different/specific time, we'll update this story to reflect that.

EA FC 25 early access preload

If you're on Xbox, then EA FC 25 is available now to preload to your console, meaning when the game is finally released, you can start playing right away rather than waiting for the game to download. PlayStation users will be able to preload EA FC 25 two days before depending on the edition – so from Wednesday, September 18 for the Ultimate Edition, and Wednesday, September 25 for the standard edition.

The earliest any game can preload on Nintendo Switch is seven days before release, with the game being preloaded onto your system automatically when you pre-order, meaning you can sit back, relax, and let the game preload itself. The earliest EA FC 25 can be preloaded on Nintendo Switch is Friday, September 13 for the Ultimate Edition, and Friday, September 20 for the Standard Edition.

As for PC, there's no confirmed preload date just yet, but we predict that preload will begin for EA FC 25 on PC from Sunday, September 15 for Ultimate Edition and Sunday, September 22 for Standard Edition.

EA FC 25 file size

These are the confirmed and estimated file sizes for EA FC 25 on each platform:

• Xbox Series X|S: 46.1GB (estimated)

• Xbox One: 43.1GB (confirmed)

• PS5: 46.1GB (estimated)

• PS4: 43.1GB (estimated)

• PC: 100GB (estimated available space required)

• Nintendo Switch: 28.4GB (confirmed)

The 100GB requirement for PC is the amount of estimated space required to download, but like with all the other platforms, the actual EA FC 25 file size should be much smaller and similar to the Xbox and PlayStation file size.

If you've pre-ordered the EA FC 25 Ultimate Edition and are looking to use all of your pre-order bonuses from the go, then bad news. The player Evolution slot can only be unlocked when the game is released worldwide, so you won't be able to use that until then.