Battlefield 2042 early access has been live since November 12 for owners of the Gold and Ultimate editions. The game launched fully on Friday, November 19, and so that advance group has now been joined by owners of the standard $60 edition.
The somewhat bumpy early access period culminated in the release of the first big patch, which is supposed to help with some of the early server issues. When we're not getting error messages, we've been enjoying the big multiplayer-only package, contentious as it is. Portal, a custom game mode designer, seems especially exciting, though the launch day issues have made it hard to play with. See our Battlefield 2042 review for more details.
If you're not sure whether Battlefield 2042 is your cup of tea, you can get a 10-hour trial of the game with a basic Xbox Game Pass or EA Play subscription. Here's how it all works:
When does Battlefield 2042 unlock in my time zone?
The standard edition of Battlefield 2042 launched worldwide on Friday, November 19 at midnight PST. It's not staggered by time zone, so that means that people on the US East Coast got it at 3 am on Friday, while in the UK it released at 8 am. You can find your time zone here.
Who got Battlefield 2042 early access?
Early Access for Battlefield 2042 started on November 12, and was available for anyone who bought the Gold Edition or Ultimate Edition, or subscribed to EA Play Pro, which includes access to the Ultimate Edition.
You can also play a ten-hour trial of Battlefield 2042 before release if you're a basic EA Play subscriber using Origin, or if you're an Xbox Game Pass subscriber. To do this, simply search Battlefield 2042 in the Game Pass app and you'll be prompted to view EA Play games and link your EA account.
Once you've done this, you can play the ten hour trial through the EA Play with Game Pass beta app.
How do you get the Battlefield 2042 10-hour trial?
As mentioned, if you have the non-Pro version of an EA Play subscription ($5/month or included with Xbox Game Pass), you can play Battlefield 2042 for 10 hours anytime before or after release. If you want to keep playing after the 10-hour trial period, you'll have to upgrade to EA Play Pro, or buy the game a la carte.
Is Battlefield 2042 on Xbox Game Pass?
No, the Battlefield 2042 full game is not available with an Xbox Game Pass subscription at launch. However, the 10-hour trial is. That's because Game Pass includes everything you get with an EA Play subscription, and the EA Play subscription gets you the 10-hour trial. Just like with a regular EA Play subscription, if you want to play for longer than 10 hours, you'll have to subscribe to EA Play Pro or buy a copy of the game.
EA will almost definitely make Battlefield 2042 available through the base EA Play subscription eventually, which will make it available on Game Pass, but it hasn't said when that'll happen. Battlefield 5 was added to the EA Play collection (called Origin Access at the time) seven months after it released, so it'll probably be at least that long for Battlefield 2042. EA may wait longer if it's still moving EA Play Pro subs and full-price copies.
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