EA is offering 10 hours of Battlefield 5 (or whatever) for free

Electronic Arts is offering a seven-day free trial of Origin Access Basic, the subscription-based service that offers free access to 160 existing games and ten-hour trials of new ones. All you have to do is send a direct message to the EA Help Twitter account with the #TRYBFV hashtag, and you're (eventually) in. 

See more

Battlefield 5 is obviously the hook here, but since the trial is for Origin Access, you should be able to use it for whatever you want—a solid week of Crysis 2, for instance. (That's not a joke suggestion, by the way—after years of putting it off I literally just finished playing it this week, and it's really good.)

A couple of things to note: The offer is only available for 24 hours, so you've got until roughly 9 am ET on December 1 to claim it, and you'll probably have to wait for a reply. I DM'ed the hashtag at around 1:45 pm ET, and received a response at 4 pm, because instead of using an automated system Origin reps are answering each request individually.

When you do receive a reply, you'll be given a PC-only code to enter into the Origin app. Click the Origin drop-down, then "redeem product code," and copy/paste it in. In return, you'll get a "7 Day Non-Recurring Membership" to Origin Access Basic. 

Happily, that means you don't have to sign up and then cancel once the free period is over: After you confirm the code, you'll get a message saying that if you want to continue with the service after it expires, you'll need to either sign up or purchase another block of time.

Thanks, Polygon.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.