The EA SPORTS College Football 26 Closed Beta is now underway, from June 6 to June 8. Included in the Beta is Online Dynasty and Road to the College Football Playoff.
It is unclear what the criteria was to be invited into the College Football 26 Closed Beta outside of Madden VIPs and per @CFBDirect: "the majority of invites went out to the most engaged CFB players." The popular community belief is that a percentage of users with a high number of hours played were extended invites. The lack of clarity combined with many 'engaged CFB players' not getting an invite led to a negative perception of the event by some in the community.
While the blog stated that users "must refrain from recording, streaming and/or capturing any portion of the closed beta ... [They] also must not post videos, thoughts, discussions, screenshots or stream the closed beta on social media or the Internet," numerous users did exactly that. Early on Friday afternoon, some images were removed from r/NCAAFBseries, for example, but by evening screens and details were readily available across social media. On3 even shared out a night game opening for LSU-Alabama from a user that had been sharing content all afternoon with no ban or block from EA.
The end-goal of the Closed Beta also seemed unclear. While the Closed Beta Details blog listed feedback methodology and requests, two College Football 26 developers shared that the Beta is an older build and the goal was to mainly stress test servers. Continue on to see the Closed Beta details per EA.
PSA: The beta is an old build. It does not include final Dynasty statistical tuning or a myriad of other Dynasty/Gameplay tuning tweaks. We are mainly stress testing servers, the rest you will experience in a few weeks. 😀
— Christian McLeod (@CMcLeod_EA) June 7, 2025****Betas are great for server testing, but that build is so old I can’t take much from it personally — so much has changed and it’s much older than what the community and press played. Just speaking for myself. https://t.co/hSYABoZtZ5
— Scott O'Gallagher (@ScottOGallagher) June 5, 2025
Welcome back to the Campus Huddle, your news for everything related to EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 straight from the development team. Today, we’ll be sharing everything you need to know about the College Football 26 Closed Beta.*
The focus for the upcoming technical test this weekend is specifically for us to receive feedback on Cross-Play for Online Dynasty, server stability, and Gameplay feedback via Road to the College Football Playoff.
Keep in mind: This Tech Test is limited in scope and does not represent the final version of College Football 26. For example, coach likeness, player likeness, ratings, and playbooks are not final.
The College Football 26 Closed Beta will be available to play this weekend only so don't miss out on your chance to play:
Start: Friday, June 6th at 11:00 A.M. EST
End: Sunday, June 8th at 11:59 P.M. EDT
What Is Included In The College Football 26 Closed Beta
Online Dynasty (Cross-Play is Optional)
Road To The College Football Playoffs (H2H)
Dynasty Progress
For our Dynasty players, any progress made in Online Dynasty Mode will be reset after the College Football 26 Closed Beta.
Playbooks
Playbooks in the closed beta are not final, and could be updated prior to World Wide Launch. The team can’t wait to share the Gameplay and Dynasty Deep Dives with the FULL feature details later this month.
Rules About The College Football 26 Closed Beta
College Football 26 Closed Beta screen displaying a "No Capture Zone" warning. The message instructs users not to post, stream, or share any gameplay, screenshots, or details outside of approved feedback forums.
College Football 26 Closed Beta is available on PS5™ and Xbox Series X|S consoles. You must be 18+ and in the U.S. or Canada to participate.
When participating in the confidential College Football 26 Closed Beta, you must refrain from recording, streaming and/or capturing any portion of the closed beta.
You also must not post videos, thoughts, discussions, screenshots or stream the closed beta on social media or the Internet. Doing so will result in removal from the closed beta as well as potential enforcement on all College Football accounts.
Feedback On The College Football 26 Closed Beta - EA Forums
Image of College Football 26 feedback submission instructions. Includes a QR code and a URL link to go.ea.com/CFB26feedback for providing game feedback.
We wanted to share a few best practices to keep in mind when coming across issues or giving feedback in general. Please keep in mind the more detailed information you can provide when reporting issues, the better our team can address them.
Below are some questions to think about when reporting an issue or providing feedback:
What platform are you playing on?
What platform are you playing against?
Where specifically did you see the issue?
The following details are extremely important:
Game Mode
Game Style
Game Difficulty
Teams Used
Playbook Used
Play Call - If a specific play is not applicable, what kind of playcall are you seeing? (e.g. Screen, Play Action, Outside Run, Inside Run, etc.)
Any adjustments used during the play?
If applicable, what buttons did you press?
Were you doing anything specific in-game? Is this a repeatable issue?
What did you do prior to identifying an issue?
What game settings are you using? Did you change any settings at any point?
Have you seen the issue before?
Where specifically did you see this issue?
The Dynasty team is interested in hearing what you have to say about the following changes to Dynasty Mode:
Coach progression, coach skills location, progression system.
Polls Playoff entries.
Does the addition of the trophy room encourage you to play as other teams?
Protected opponents feedback
Dynamic Deal Breakers & Dynamic Traits, do you feel the impact of the changes?
Location based visits, do those impact your targeting decisions?
Do you use sway more than last year now because of understanding how it works?
Wear and Tear Settings, how does that impact your players and your decisions around who to use?
Feedback about how Crossplay is working for you?
The Road to The College Football Playoffs team would like to hear from you about:
Homefield Advantage, how impactful is it to you and what your thoughts are on it.
How do you feel about the new progression system? Rankings earned per game.
Please be sure to submit all feedback on the new EA Forums website.
How To Download The College Football 26 Closed Beta
For those selected, you will have received an invite email with your redemption code. To download the College Football 26 Closed Beta to your system, please follow the instructions below:
To download on Playstation:
Use your existing Sony Entertainment Network account on PSN™.
Select the PlayStation®Store icon on the system home screen.
Select Redeem Codes at the bottom of the menu on the PlayStation®Store.
Enter the code and get ready to play.
To download on Xbox:
Go to Games under Store.
Select Use a Code.
Sign in if prompted.
Select or enter the 25-character code and get ready to play.
College Football 26 Closed Beta Known Issues
Below is a list of issues the team is already aware of and has addressed for future updates.
An image displaying known issues for College Football 26
Gameplay Known Issues:
Coverage
Outside Deep Zone Match Defenders are sometimes taking unintentional missteps giving up deep ball passes.
Issue with our China Call logic causing the outside deep zone not to drop back.
2-Man Under defenders will sometimes move towards the LOS taking themselves out of position to play deep passes.
Users attempting to select a DB covering a Streak route are sometimes getting switched to the Safety instead of the CB running with the Streak.
The “Show 2” Coverage Shell does not work when attempting to use it on a Single High defense.
QB & Passing
When attempting to Playmaker a receiver up the field, you sometimes get an unintended Truck move.
Sometimes attempting to throw on the cut on an outside breaking route is off target even when the QB rolled an accurate pass.
Catching
We have some catch holes when throwing to the back of a receiver on a Flat or a short out route.
User controlled defenders have a low catch chance when running up the field attempting an interception.
Pass Rush
Some Stunts & Twists selections from the Stunts & Twists menu are not playing out on the field.
Pass Rushers will sometimes attempt Defender Pass Rush Skill moves after the QB has already started scrambling out of the pocket.
Offensive Linemen are sometimes incorrectly turning their backs to defenders resulting in defenders coming in unblocked.
Offensive AI
AI teams in the redzone often throw short of the endzone on 3rd & 4th Downs.
AI teams attempt 50+ yard field goals in heavy snow games.
Data-Driven Playcalling is recommending the same play too frequently.
Mini Games
Game sometimes crashes at the end of the Pocket Presence or when progressing into Trench Battle
Online Dynasty Known Issues:
Final supersim tuning not in place, will result in non representative final stats.
Coaching carousel tuning not final - not representative of final product coach movement
Player transfer portal tuning not final - final version has more movement + new playing time logic implemented.
Not all player notifications and full screen takeovers are present in the beta.
Presentation known issues:
No highlights at halftime/postgame.
Wipe timing issues.
Some blocked cameras.
Multiple clipping issues during runouts.
Note: The Player Ratings throughout the College Football 26 Closed Beta have been scrambled/randomized and are not final.
Community Frequently Asked Questions
Q: IF I DIDN’T RECEIVE AN EMAIL WITH AN INVITATION TO THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL 26 CLOSED BETA, WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET IN AND PLAY?
A: This beta is designed for our most dedicated players who spent countless hours in College Football 25 who can provide us the best quality feedback about this Tech Test.
Q: HOW DO I ACCESS THE FORUMS TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK?
A: Players will be able to access the forums after they have first downloaded the beta and opened it using their EA ID, and then by following the link provided in your invite email.
Q: IS CROSS-PLATFORM FUNCTIONALITY AVAILABLE FOR THE College Football 26 CLOSED BETA?
A: You will have the opportunity to use crossplay features. Crossplay will be automatically enabled when entering the closed beta. To disable cross-play, Playstation users can disable the feature in their College Football 26 settings. Xbox Users will have to disable crossplay from their console settings outside of College Football 26.
For those who try out the Closed Beta this year, thank you for your participation and we look forward to your feedback on the EA Forums!
-EA Sports College Football 26 Development Team
****
Support The Gaming Tailgate by purchasing College Football 26 (Standard Edition) from Amazon: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
Share our EA SPORTS College Football 26 News & Information Central page with your friends via e-mail & social networks with this convenient link: http://tgt.pw/eacfb26info
.
