Cricket 26 is a 2025 cricket video game developed by Australian developer Big Ant Studios and published by French publisher Nacon. It was released on 19 November 2025, and is the official video game of the 2025-26 Ashes series. It is the ninth game in Big Ant Studio's series of cricket games, being the sequel to Cricket 24.
Development Cricket 26 is based on an updated version of the same engine that powered Cricket 24. It features graphical enhancements like ray-traced lighting, dynamic weather effects, realistic bowling actions, and updated fielding animations. Batting, bowling, and fielding mechanics have been tweaked.
Gameplay Cricket 26 features enhanced gameplay mechanics similar to those present in previous editions in the series. Multiplayer features like Pro Team, Auction House, academy, and content drops are also present. Certain Pro Team features require microtransactions. Players have the ability to create and acquire community-generated content like stadiums, equipment, and players. A new gameplay mode is Management Career, which lets the player take charge of teambuilding activities like recruitment, player development, lineup construction, and match strategy. Team confidence meters and optional objectives have also been introduced.
The game includes both domestic and international cricket, with Ireland, the West Indies, and Pakistan being newly added teams. Domestic competitions include the Indian Premier League, The Hundred, and the Caribbean Premier League. In addition, It includes an enhanced mode focusing on the Ashes which allows the player to take charge of activities like net sessions and press conferences for either England or Australia. New Zealand's Super Smash league has been removed. Games can now be affected by environmental conditions like light and precipitation, and the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method can come into play.
Release Cricket 26 was released worldwide on 19 November 2025 on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Windows version is digital-only and is available on both the Xbox Store and Steam. The PlayStation and Xbox Series X/S versions are available both digitally and on physical discs. The Xbox One version is digital-only and is available in the Xbox store.
Aside from the Standard edition, a Pro Team edition includes additional credits for use in microtransactions. English is the only supported language.
Teams & competitions The game features a mix of fully licensed tournaments and leagues, allowing players to compete with real team branding, kits, and stadiums.
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Tournaments & Leagues
Tournament / League Status Notes The Ashes Includes dedicated net sessions, press conferences, and full England and Australia squads. Australian States Includes all official 6 teams and authentic venues. Big Bash League (BBL) Includes all official 8 teams and authentic venues. English Counties featuring all 18 teams The Hundred Full integration of the short-format tournament with all men's and women's teams. Bangladesh Domestic featuring 7 divisions teams India Domestic featuring all 38 teams Indian Premier League (IPL) Features 9 out of 10 official teams with authentic branding (excluding Royal Challengers Bengaluru), while missing some player squads at launch. New Zealand Domestic featuring all 6 teams Pakistan Domestic featuring 6 teams Pakistan Super League (PSL) featuring all 6 official teams and authentic venues South Africa Domestic featuring 8 teams SA20 Includes all 8 teams Sri Lanka domestic featuring all 5 district teams West Indies domestic featuring all 6 teams Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Includes official West Indies domestic T20 teams and authentic venues.
Reception Critics praised the graphics, game mechanics, improved AI, and on-field gameplay of Cricket 26, saying that it is an iterative but significant improvement over Cricket 24. However, they noted the presence of frequent crashes and graphical bugs even after several patches in the first week after release. The new game modes were criticised, and some features were entirely non-functional at release. User reviews on Steam are mostly positive.
System requirements Hardware Minimum requirements Recommended specs OS Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit) Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit) Processor Intel Core i5-6600K @ 3.5 GHz / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X @ 3.6 GHz Intel Core i7-11700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Memory 8 GB RAM 16 GB RAM Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5700XT (8 GB) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB) / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT DirectX Version 12 Version 12 Storage 80 GB available space (SSD recommended) 80 GB available space (SSD recommended)
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