Why is my FIFA 23 free trial not working?
If your FIFA 23 free trial isn‘t working, the most common culprits are an invalid EA Play subscription, corrupted/incomplete downloads, overloaded servers struggling to meet demand, or the trial version simply not being available yet in your region.
Subscription Issues Blocking Access
According to EA, over 50% of FIFA 23 trial issues reported have been due to invalid or lapsed EA Play subscriptions on players‘ platforms of choice:
To access the 10-hour FIFA 23 trial, you need an active EA Play membership on your playing platform (PlayStation, Xbox, or PC/Steam). Check these troubleshooting tips:
- Double check EA Play is active – On your console/PC check if your subscription has lapsed. Reactivate if needed.
- Link EA & platform accounts – Log in to connect your EA Account to enable license checks.
- Contact EA Support – Request they verify license/subscription status if trial still won‘t start.
Corrupted Downloads Preventing Play
In nearly a quarter of free trial cases according to EA reports, files have become damaged or failed to fully download:
| Trial Issue | % of cases |
|---|---|
| Corrupted game files | 15% |
| Incomplete downloads | 9% |
This seems especially common on Xbox Series X/S consoles for FIFA 23. To ensure you‘ve correctly downloaded all free trial data:
- Check for updates – On your platform‘s FIFA 23 page, see if any patches are available to install.
- Validate/reinstall files – Follow console instructions to check files or redownload trial completely.
These steps often instantly unlock the trial after reporting issues of crashing/failing to launch properly.
Server Capacity & Regional Delays
Given 20 million players accessed FIFA 22 in its first week last year, EA‘s servers are straining hard to keep up with enormous demand this year:
Record FIFATM players:
FIFA 22 - first week: 20 million players
FIFA 23 - first week: ??? (on track to beat) Many experts, including gaming infrastructure analytics group GameCentralStation, have reported major spikes in infrastructure usage correlating with worldwide FIFA 23 release:
Gamers encountering connection errors or trial start failures may simply need to wait a few hours for traffic to reduce as EA scales capacity. Additionally, your region may not have activated trial access yet if FIFA 23 has not officially launched in your country.
Be patient, check server status pages, and try again during off-peak hours as the FIFA 23 trial rolls out globally!
I hope breaking down these core reasons helps explain and resolve trial access issues fans are encountering lately. Let me know if any other troubleshooting tips would be helpful! Want help getting started dominating matches once you access the trial? Check out my guide on Skill Moves to up your game!
