Nintendo Switch Online Makes New 2026 Game Available for Free Less Than 1 Month After Launch — Explained
Nintendo Switch Online has made a new 2026 game available for free to subscribers on Nintendo Switch 2. The offer is not available to NSO subscribers on Nintendo Switch — or Switch Lite or Switch OLED — because the game in question is not available on the previous Nintendo console. For those on the successor Switch, they can now play a game released less than a month ago for free.
This Nintendo Switch Online-exclusive offer is available between now and September 15, and unlike some NSO offers, this one does not require the Expansion Pack tier. It’s available to all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers with the hardware to run it. That said, the Switch 2 game isn’t free to keep. The entirety of the game is free to play during this period for as little or as much as NSO subscribers would like, but after September 15 is over, Switch 2 users will need to purchase it outright if they want to continue. As for the game, it is EA’s Madden NFL 27, which was released on Switch 2 and other platforms back on August 13.
A Great Pick by Nintendo
This is a great Nintendo Switch Online trial game for a few reasons. For one, you don’t need a ton of hours with any given Madden game in any given year to get your fix. A trial is also perfect to suss out if it’s a good Madden year or a bad Madden year. According to our official preview of the game, it’s somewhere in the middle of these two markers. Lastly, the EA game is $70 on the Nintendo eShop, so this free trial shields your wallet. And if you get hooked, then you buy the game outright and continue, but you can at least prevent yourself from getting burned.
The game obviously needs little introduction, as it’s the 37th game in a sim series that exclusively simulates the most popular sport in the United States. For those curious, though, it received a decent reception, as evidenced by its 77 on Metacritic, which is a pretty middle-of-the-road score for the series this generation.
While the download will be blocked after September 15 without a purchase, all progress will transfer over from the free version to the paid version, which is standard with this specific NSO offer.
This new Nintendo Switch Online trial follows last month’s, which saw a very popular 2016 sci-fi game given away. Meanwhile, for those subscribed to the Switch and Switch 2 subscription service for the nostalgic games and the nostalgic games only, there is a new one of those too. More specifically, a new GameCube game.
