
EA FC 26 release date – when you can play EA FC 26 for the first time, and confirmed prices
EA Sports has confirmed the EA FC 26 release date and revealed the prices of the Standard Edition and Ultimate Edition.
We're finally entering the EA FC 26 era of EA Sports FC, with EA Sports starting to reveal all about the game over the last few days. EA kicked things off by revealing the EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition cover star, and since then, a fantastic reveal trailer was released featuring loads of gameplay footage, which we broke down in detail.
In addition to the trailer, EA also revealed the official EA FC 26 pre-order bonuses, which feature a free Icon and 6,000 FC Points. More importantly, we found out the EA FC 26 release date and the official EA FC 26 price. Here's when EA FC 26 will be released worldwide and how much the game will cost.
EA FC 26 release date confirmed
The EA FC 26 worldwide release date is September 26, 2025, with players who purchase the standard edition able to access the game on this date across all platforms. But, once again, players who pre-order the EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition will be granted early access to the game, meaning you can start playing EA FC 26 on September 19, 2025, a whole seven days in advance.
Early access is a given nowadays, but if you want to access the game even earlier, you should be able to through the EA FC 26 Companion App and Web App when they are eventually released closer to the release date.
After the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 earlier this year, it's been confirmed that EA FC 26 will be coming to Nintendo 's latest console. EA FC 26 will be available on all platforms, including PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X |S, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Here's how much the game will cost on each platform:
EA FC 26 pricing confirmed
EA FC 26 (PlayStation)
EA FC 26 (Xbox)
EA FC 26 Standard Edition
EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition
EA FC 26 (PC)
EA FC 26 Standard Edition EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition
EA FC 26 (Nintendo Switch)
EA FC 26 Standard Edition (Nintendo Switch): £54.99 / $59.99 / AU$109.95*
EA FC 26 Standard Edition (Nintendo Switch 2): £59.99 / $59.99 / AU$109.95*
EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition (Nintendo Switch): £69.99 / $69.99 / AU$139.95*
EA FC 26 Ultimate Edition (Nintendo Switch 2): £79.99 / $79.99 / AU$139.95*
There is a little confusion regarding the pricing of EA FC 26 on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. On the UK Nintendo Store, the FC 26 Standard Edition costs £54.99 on the Switch and £59.99 for the Switch 2, while the Ultimate Edition costs £69.99 on the Switch and £79.99 on the Switch 2.
However, on the US Nintendo Store and the Australian Nintendo Store, there seems to be one shared price between the Switch and Switch 2 for the Standard Edition and one shared price between the Switch and Switch 2 for the Ultimate Edition.
We aren't too sure of the reason why the game is priced differently for the Switch and the Switch 2 in the UK, as there hasn't been any confirmation of the Switch 2 version having any extra features. But we're doing some digging, and we'll update this with any new information when we get it.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
A new Nintendo Direct is due this week and Silksong fans want a release date
With Silksong expected to launch this year, fans are now hoping for an update at the newly announced Nintendo Switch 2 indie showcase. After the constant rumours of a July Nintendo Direct, fans finally got one last week, only to come away disappointed by its deliberate focus on third party games, and even then not necessarily the ones they were looking forward to. For the past few days, there has been unsubstantiated chatter that another Nintendo Direct would drop shortly, although still not one for first party games. Instead, the implication was that it'd be one of Nintendo's Indie World showcases. Turns out that chatter was accurate, as a new Indie World showcase is scheduled for this week, which of course means it's time for the routine fan demands for an update on Hollow Knight: Silksong. The showcase is scheduled to air this Thursday on August 7 at 2pm and won't be particularly long, clocking in at only 15 minutes. So, either only a small handful of indie games will see any focus or nothing is going to have much time in the spotlight. As for what games will make an appearance, that's anyone's guess, since Nintendo only says there will be 'new announcements and updates on indie games coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch.' The eternally absent Silksong does fit that criteria and it did make a very brief reappearance at the Switch 2 showcase in April, along with a new release window of 2025. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Naturally, Silksong fans are allowing themselves to hope even though they've been burned so many times before. 'Is it time for a Silksong announcement? Probably not but I'm still hoping to see Silksong here!' writes Victory Star on X, while a more confident ProTeneb says, 'Silksong! Let's go!! This is it guys! I know it.' Fans like Dexter Schwaerzler-Plumb and Alex Humphrey don't seem as sure, posting often used artwork of Hollow Knight characters wearing a clown wig and nose, meant to represent how the fanbase feels anytime they think a Silksong update will be shown they're proven wrong. The Silksong subreddit is just as divided, split between those willing to believe the game will show up and others who have zero faith. More Trending It's worth remembering that Microsoft has secured a marketing deal with Silksong developer Team Cherry, using the game to promote its upcoming ROG Xbox Ally handheld. Microsoft said Silksong will be available 'at launch and in Game Pass' once the handheld launches during the holiday season, though Team Cherry insists the game wasn't tied to any console release and could be out as early as this autumn. Given Microsoft's eagerness to promote Silksong for Game Pass, it wouldn't be surprising if it wants to be the one to announce the release date rather than let Nintendo take the glory, even though the publisher otherwise has nothing to do with it. At the very least, Silksong is safely locked in for a 2025 launch, especially since it's slated to be playable at Gamescom this month, with Microsoft offering a demo on both PC and the ROG Xbox Ally. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: July Nintendo Direct removed three games at the last minute claim insiders MORE: The Nintendo Partner Direct left me wondering: where's the ambition? – Reader's Feature MORE: Xbox console sales are even worse than thought according to latest estimates


Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
EA FC 26 Ultimate Team new features – new game modes, repeatable Evolutions and Rivals overhaul
EA Sports has gone all out with the new additions coming to Ultimate Team in EA FC 26. Ultimate Team is the biggest game mode in EA Sports FC, and some massive changes are coming in EA FC 26. On a recent trip to the EA Sports HQ in Vancouver, I was able to not only play EA FC 26 for the first time, but also find out all there is to know about EA FC 26 Career Mode changes, Clubs changes, and the biggest of them all, Ultimate Team. EA has put big emphasis on listening to community feedback in EA FC 26, and based on the changes coming to EA FC 26 Ultimate Team, this is reflected. From new gameplay, Evolutions updates and improved Division Rivals, these are 30 changes coming to Ultimate Team in FC 26. EA FC 26 Ultimate Team changes These are all the changes coming to Ultimate Team in EA FC 26. EA has added a few new ways to play Ultimate Team while also upgrading other features, so all in all, these changes are very exciting. Competitive gameplay –the return of pace Gameplay will be faster in Ultimate Team thanks to the new competitive gameplay. In EA FC 26, there will be two types of gameplay, competitive and authentic. While Authentic is a slower version of the game, more suited for Career Mode, Competitive is much faster, giving the gameplay a more arcade-like feel. This suits Ultimate Team perfectly. Live events and tournaments Live events and tournaments will be a big focus in EA FC 26. These new tournaments are high-stakes knockout events where you can play up to four rounds, ending with an epic final. To make matchmaking fair, you'll always play someone who's at the same round as you. There will be exclusive rewards available for tournaments, while EA will keep things fresh by having special squad requirements and objectives. Each tournament will have a limited number of entries, and once you win the tournament, you can't enter again. Another new live event coming to FC 26 Ultimate Team is the Gauntlet. A series-based event where you play up to five games, but every game you must use a new squad, with no player able to be used twice. The aim is to win as many games as you can to earn better rewards. Other live events will be available but locked, and you can only unlock entry to these by completing certain objectives. These events are intended for elite competition, so think of it as the top four get Champions League spots in the Premier League. Only the best of the best will qualify. At the end of each FC Season, more live events will be released that are intended to "bring the community together", whatever that means. FUT Champs overhaul FUT Champs is being overhauled in EA FC 26. Towards the end of EA FC 25, the FUT Champs play-offs became a bit of a chore, but this is no more, with play-offs being removed completely. A new FUT Champions competition will also be released, called FUT Champs Challengers. This will be released along with the regular FUT Champs, with players in Divisions 10 to Division 6 in Rivals qualifying for FUT Champs Challengers. This simply allows players in lower divisions to still have the chance to compete in FUT Champs. Of course, the rewards won't be as good as the main event, so you can't drop down from Division 1 to Division 6 in the hope of easing your way to 15-0 and amazing rewards. FUT Champs is also getting a visual update in EA FC 26, so expect to see a new-look menu and layout. Make Rivals great again With no more FUT Champs Play-Offs, Rivals is now more important than ever before to qualify, and some big changes are being made. You can now get win streak bonuses in Rivals, where you can climb up to two stages and earn double Rivals points. Your opponent will also be told if you are on a win streak, vice versa. There are limited checkpoints in Rivals. These can act as a cushion and tell you how many games you can afford to lose before you are threatened with relegation. It got frustrating if you were on a losing streak in Rivals in EA FC 25, because you could play five games and get nothing to show for it. This is changing in EA FC 26 thanks to a new feature called Bounties. The bounty system will see players given challenges to earn extra Rivals points, meaning even if you lose, you can still get points towards your weekly total. Some examples of Bounties are Clean Sheet, so keep a clean sheet, Domination, which is win by two goals or more, First Strike, which is score first, Scoring Streak, which is score two goals in a row, and Last Strike, which means score last. These are good because, say you are losing 4-0 and you score in the 90th minute to make it 4-1, you may have lost, but you will still earn Rivals points. Some of the rewards for competing bounties are coins, packs, Rivals stage skips and Rivals weekly rewards points. Rivals points earned from Bounties can be added to your total tally, so if you win a game of Rivals and also complete a bounty for two Rivals points, you would get five Rivals points from one game. When you are playing for a bounty, your opponent is also playing for the exact same one, so a cool bit of extra competition is added to the game. Winners don't quit, and quitters don't win If a player quits a game while drawing, a win will be awarded if the game is either in the second half, a red card has been handed out, or a penalty has been given. EA has also updated this, so even if a player quits through the menus or by turning their console or PC off, the win will still be given. Players who quit games in Rush repeatedly will be given matchmaking timeouts. Timeouts get longer and longer if the player continuously quits games Evolutions are better than ever Evolutions have been updated for EA FC 26, with the ability to evolve goalkeepers now included. But, even though you can play as a goalkeeper in Clubs Rush, you can't in Ultimate Team. Repeatable Evolutions are coming to EA FC 26, meaning you can use the same Evolution on multiple players rather than just as a one-off. And visually, you can now stack Evolution upgrades. This means, if you completed a Future Stars-themed Evolution and then a Centurions Evolution after, rather than losing the past cosmetic design, the two will be combined and stacked. And everything else There's a new competitive camera being added to Ultimate Team, which can only be used in Ultimate Team. EA is also pushing a less-is-more philosophy with content in FC 26. This doesn't mean fewer promos, but instead, the upgrades each week will be smaller, meaning the power curve will increase more slowly. EA discussed with us the potential of adding dynamic images to cards in Ultimate Team, and even though they confirmed it wasn't discussed for EA FC 26, they didn't deny that it could happen in the future. It was also confirmed that the Icon player item included in the FC 26 Ultimate Edition pre-order bonuses is a pack, not a player pick, while EA has confirmed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alex Morgan, and Toni Kroos are all new Icons for FC 26, with more set to be announced soon. To get players into games quicker, 3D team sheets have been removed, with 2D team sheets returning, and even though crossplay has been around for a while now, the transfer market will not be shared between console and PC in FC 26, which I think is a good thing. Lastly, FUT Moments will still be in EA FC 26. Although it's not a competitive game mode, EA sees it as the perfect way to introduce new players to the game who are playing and learning for the first time.


Metro
4 hours ago
- Metro
90s Amiga mascot is coming back with a sequel his original creator hates
In a surprisingly frank interview, the creator of James Pond slams the latest attempt at a sequel – as well as its developer. There were several attempts to create a mascot character for the Amiga, who could rival the likes of Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, back in the day. None of them succeeded, but the most fondly remembered of the lot is probably James Pond. They still couldn't compete with the best from Nintendo or Sega (none of them made our top 20 Amiga games list), but their graphics were definitely impressive for the time. The second game, 1991's James Pond 2 – Codename: RoboCod was the best and popular enough to keep getting ported, even securing a Nintendo Switch version in 2019. That we admit we've never heard of till now. Now, we've learned that no less than two new James Pond games are in the works, but only because the series creator, Chris Sorrell, has publicly slammed the new developer and distanced himself from the IP entirely. The two games in question – entitled James Pond: Rogue AI and James Pond: A Bit Of A Stretch – are being made for mobile devices and, according to developer Gameware Europe, are slated to launch later this year. If you've never heard of Gameware Europe, we don't blame you. Neither had we until now and a quick glance at its website shows that while it has a history of releasing mobile games, none of them are recognisable, with a good chunk of them being generic looking puzzle games. What's far more noticeable, though, is that Gameware Europe's website is filled with AI generated art and videos to promote their games. The art it uses for the two James Pond titles don't even feature the title character, just some bespectacled human children. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. A teaser trailer for James Pond: Rogue AI went up last month, and while there's no clear use of AI art in the game itself, it is only a teaser. Sorell has an unambiguously sour opinion of Gameware, telling Time Extension, 'I hate almost everything they do with a passion.' He also laments how he allowed the studio to attach his name to a 'shambolic' Kickstarter campaign for a new James Pond game back in 2013; one that failed to even raise a fifth of its goal: 'I stupidly allowed my name to become associated with their bottom-feeding enterprise.' Sorell does admit the aforementioned gameplay teaser looks like it could be fun, if it's 'in the hands of a capable level designer,' but that's where the positives end. 'Everything else they've shown seems far more expected: yet another warmed over rehash of a 34-year-old game that somehow makes it look like 30 years of tech progress never happened,' Sorell continues. More Trending 'And of course, the fact that they're promoting it with lazy, AI-generated bulls*** – well, what could be more on brand?!' Sorell thinks the James Pond name has become so 'degraded' that he doesn't want to be associated with it anymore, admitting he's been turning down James Pond related interviews for years. General fan reactions on YouTube aren't any better. Aside from the fact that there's only a small handful of comments, they're unanimously negative and judging by the date of their posting, have all been written after Sorell drew attention to the new game. 'I was a big fan of James Pond 2 and 3 growing [up], sad to see the series reduced to a lame cash in using crap generated AI assets,' reads one, while another bluntly drops this obvious pun: 'This is cod awful.' Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: PS6 console will be all about AI but not in a bad way, reveals AMD MORE: Xbox is using AI to make games in a disturbing vision of next gen gaming MORE: Candy Crush developers replaced by the AI tools they helped make