EA Sports College Football 25: A Blockbuster Return and Its Impact on the Gaming World

After an 11-year hiatus, EA Sports College Football 25 (CFB25) made a triumphant return, exceeding expectations and becoming a cultural phenomenon, but the question remains, will it maintain its momentum in the years to come? Industry tracker Circana reported it became the best-selling sports video game of all time in total dollars, surpassing NBA 2K21, though EA has not made its sales numbers public. CFB25 brought together diehard fans who had been clamoring for a new game for a decade-plus, gamers who don’t follow the actual sport and active college football players.

The Road to Release: Navigating Legal Hurdles

The journey to releasing CFB25 was fraught with legal challenges. Following the release of the series' previous entry in 2013, Electronic Arts (EA) settled a lawsuit brought by former college football players who argued their name, image, and likeness (NIL) were used without permission or compensation. Initially, player names and likenesses were not to be included in the game. Several schools, including Notre Dame, Tulane, and Northwestern, refused to join the game until NIL rules were finalized. EA Sports responded by stating "player name, image and likeness is not currently planned for the game. However, we are watching the developments in this area closely and are prepared to take steps to include players should that opportunity arise."

At the time, the NCAA had delayed and not voted on new NIL rules, but over two dozen states had either passed or proposed laws so that institutions couldn't enforce the NCAA's NIL rules. The 2021 United States Supreme Court case NCAA v. Alston further complicated the landscape.

A Summer Release

On November 22, 2022, EA Sports vice president and general manager Daryl Holt stated that Electronic Arts would release the game sometime in summer 2024. "That's the best date for us to bring the game that we think is going to meet or exceed our player expectations…and cover the breadth and scale of what we want in the game. On February 22, 2024, EA Sports announced that all 134 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs would be featured in EA Sports College Football 25 but the 128 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) programs would not be included at launch. That same day, ESPN's lead college football commentary team of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit announced that they would be featured as commentators. Herbstreit was a commentator in EA's original NCAA Football series until its hiatus after NCAA Football 14.

Gameplay Reveal and Initial Impressions

A 21-minute gameplay trailer was premiered on July 8, 2024, featuring YouTuber Bordeaux and cover athlete Donovan Edwards. They played two games, with Edwards winning both with raw gameplay being revealed soon after. As well as the trailer, the day after, an Ultimate Team Deep Dive was posted. On July 12, 2024, YouTubers and Twitch Streamers who are in EA's Creator Network program got access to a nearly final edition of the game, in which rebuilds, player careers, and raw gameplay were shortly uploaded and streamed on YouTube, Twitch, and other platforms.

Read also: Enrollment at Notre Dame

Critical Reception

The reviews of CFB25 were solid; Metacritic rated it an 80 (XBox) and 83 (PS5) out of 100, while video game publication IGN gave it a 7 out of 10. Both were higher than the outlets’ ratings for Madden 25. Critics, gamers and executives agreed: CFB25 wasn’t perfect, but it was a good starting point. Gamers appreciated that microtransactions, a common feature of newer video games in which players must pay up to unlock special features and skills, didn’t take over the game.

Key Features and Gameplay

CFB25 aimed to capture the essence of college football with features such as Dynasty mode, Road to Glory, and TeamBuilder. The game also included licensed music, with tracks like "Sandstorm", "Mo Bamba", "Kernkraft 400", "Welcome to the Jungle", "Wave on Wave", and an instrumental of "Talkin' Out the Side of Your Neck" adding to the immersive experience.

Fan Feedback and Areas for Improvement

That community’s most frequent complaints included pass protection issues and the timing/recovery of fumbles during gameplay, a shortage of off-field details in Dynasty mode, limits on what can be customized in the TeamBuilder mode and a lack of playbook and quarter-length options in online play.

EA Sports released several game patch updates after the launch, fixing glitches and updating playbooks, jerseys and stadiums. That technology wasn’t available the last time the college football game was around.

Comparing CFB25 to Madden

That was the most positive thing someone could say about CFB25, according to Holt: It felt different than Madden. The motto within EA Sports during the game’s production was that every team in college football was someone’s favorite team, and each was treated with care and attention to detail.

The Impact on College Programs

Every school saw the impact. Schools like Alabama and Miami were among the most popular for online play, but Football Bowl Subdivision newcomers Sam Houston and Kennesaw State were popular Dynasty Mode picks for players looking to start at the bottom of college football’s top level and work their way up.

Even schools not in the game made their way in through the TeamBuilder program, which allows users to create teams. The Football Championship Subdivision’s Southland Conference uploaded its own teams - jerseys and logos with generic players - shortly after launch.

Looking Ahead to College Football 26

The game’s next edition, College Football 26, has been in the works for many months and will likely have another July release date. The College Football franchise had the advantage of being new and fresh last year, and it met the sky-high expectations. Holt wouldn’t reveal CFB26 specifics in an interview last month but said EA Sports is aware of what game players have asked for.

Some of the most common requests from gamers are game modes and features that were available in older versions or other sports games: an expanded Road to Glory mode with more time spent as a high school player; Mascot Mode, in which every player on the field is replaced with a plush mascot; the ability to play online dynasties across different gaming consoles; access to great teams from throughout college football history.

CFB25 principal game designer Ben Haumiller told The Athletic last year that there simply wasn’t enough time to fit all of the game’s previous elements in as they rebuilt the franchise from scratch. EA Sports originally planned to release the game in 2023 before pushing it back a year, as creating stadiums and players in the game took up more time than expected. Now that they no longer need to rebuild all of that, the hope and plan has always been to add more.

Platform Expansion

Holt also wouldn’t disclose whether a PC or mobile game was in the future, responding to another common question from fans last year. The CFB25 release was only available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, the newest gaming consoles on the market. Madden 25, meanwhile, was available on older consoles and PCs.

Industry sources indicated CFB25 wasn’t made for PC in part because the game’s audience is more North America-based than other sports games; PC access is more critical for a global audience. Putting the game on PC also may expose the game to an expanded network of player and roster modifications, which could violate the NIL agreements reached to include real players in the video game.

The Future of College Basketball Games

A similar expansion calculus goes into the odds of a new college basketball video game. 2K Sports and EA Sports discontinued their versions in 2008 and 2009, respectively, due to audience and sales. Holt wouldn’t rule it out down the road, but only if the audience is there.

NIL and Player Compensation

One limiting factor for any expanded ambitions for CFB26 or future games is the money paid to active college players for the use of their name, image and likeness. More than 11,000 FBS players opted in last year, each receiving $600 and a copy of the game for their NIL participation in CFB25, for a total cost to EA of more than $6 million, though a number of athletes received more for advertising ambassador roles promoting the game. It was the largest group NIL deal in history, and for most backup players, it was their only NIL deal.

However, a new organization is looking to negotiate higher payments for players in the future. An NIL group called Pathway Sports & Entertainment announced last week that it had begun to sign FBS players for their NIL video game rights. The company’s leaders have experience working in the NFL Players Association and the college NIL market.

According to Pathway, more than 600 football players have already signed on, from schools like Alabama, Georgia and Oregon, and the group’s goal is to get every scholarship FBS player. Pathway is paying players $1,500 up front for their rights, with the end goal of negotiating a licensing deal far more valuable to players than $600, potentially including royalties for each game sold, which schools already receive in exchange for the use of their brand and logos.

Sales Performance

Shortly after the title’s debut, EA announced that 2.2 million people had early access to the title. That seems like an insignificant boast, but keep in mind that the only way to gain Early Access status was to purchase the $99.99 version of the game. Yes, over 2 million people paid over $100 to play EA Sports College Football 25 three days early. The game also recently debuted in the top spot on the Australian sales charts, which is especially impressive for not just an American football game but a collegiate American football game. While its full initial sales figures have yet to be released, EA Sports College Football 25 has already more than doubled the lifetime sales figures of the last official college football game, NCAA Football 2014. It will very likely become the best-selling college football game ever.

According to data from the research and analytics company Circana, the game has also cracked the top 50 for best-selling tracked video games of all time. And, it’s the best-selling game of 2024, though Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has been the top game of the past two months.

The Lasting Impact

In the seven months since its release, the video game brought college football back into a corner of pop culture it had abandoned.

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