4,028. That’s how many days there were without a new NCAA College Football video game.
On July 19, 2024, EA Sports released an edition of the game for the first time in eleven years, ending the hiatus. One of the most famous sports franchises had made its long awaited return to consoles.
The years of waiting were a major void to sports fans. From hours of editing and downloading rosters, creating endless Road to Glory players, fulfilling countless dynasties, and getting immersed in TeamBuilder with fictitious universities, football fans were left only with their copy of NCAA 14 on PS3 or Xbox 360 to attain their championship dreams.
Eleven years prior, on Sept. 26, 2013, EA Sports announced that they would indefinitely suspend the ‘NCAA Football’ series, after former players sued EA over using their likenesses without any compensation. Federal courts found that EA was violating federal antitrust laws, and as a result, the NCAA and its conferences pulled their licensing from the game. While EA fought hard against the opposition, nothing would come of it unless the NCAA enacted a law where athletes could finally legally benefit from their appearance and likenesses.
On Feb. 2, 2021, EA Sports announced the return of college football gaming, thanks to the NCAA’s initiation of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies, which would begin effective July 2021 in college athletics. This allowed collegiate athletes to begin profiting off of themselves. With that, EA Sports was quick to reinstate one of the most famous sports video game series’ in history. To solve any issues players may have for their compensation in the game, EA offered participants $600 and a copy of the game to be in the College Football 25.
In the period between games, EA Sports was hard at work trying to revive the popular video game series, but legal issue after legal issue repeatedly blocked the game from its return. During its absence, NCAA Football 14 continued to be the heartbeat of the college football gaming community. Copies of NCAA 14 were on sale (and still are) for hundreds of dollars.
In the midst of the vacant period for collegiate video games, attempts were made by other companies to bring college football gaming back. IMV Gaming never produced a game after years of hype, while Maximum Football successfully did in 2019. Doug Flutie’s Maximum Football 2019 obviously did not feature any real college programs, but it offered fans the ability to customize and create teams to their liking. It was not the best game by any means, but it ultimately served its purpose for hungry fans on a next-gen console. Also, the College Football Revamped group actively modded NCAA 14 with modern graphics, logos, uniforms, and teams for the best way to play an “updated” version of NCAA 14.
Nothing could satisfy sports fans’ thirst more than an actual edition of an NCAA Football game though. After EA Sports announced the return of the series, lawsuits and protests against the game came from various organizations, including the Brandr Group: an NIL licensing company. EA fought off the lawsuits and successfully delivered on its promise to the sports community.
On Feb. 15, 2024, EA Sports broke silence and announced the return of the series with a teaser video to end any speculation about the validity of the game, and they released the first official trailer for the game on May 17th.
EA Sports College Football 25 launched worldwide on July 19th, 2024 and in the first week of release, the game amassed $500 million in sales and welcomed about five million players. EA made $220 million in sales in the pre-ordering edition of the game alone, before it was even officially released. Currently, it is the highest-selling video game of 2024 and now the all-time best-selling football game in U.S. dollar sales. These outstanding numbers for the game will only continue to grow and break records.
CFB 25 is one of the most meaningful and highly anticipated video games in a while, and after a period of time that felt way too long without a new game, it has never felt better to say that college football is back.
