With a new name, and reportedly plenty of new features, ‘EA College Football 25’ is on the horizon after last being released way back in 2013.
The video game all college football fans have been waiting over a decade for is finally set for a return, with EA Sports teasing a brand new game based on the NCAA tournament in 2024.
In mid-February, the company released a trailer for the highly anticipated return of the game many grew up on, and boy haven’t they had tongues wagging ever since it dropped. The YouTube video of the trailer alone has over half a million views, which is impressive, but not as much as the 28 million-plus views on Twitter.
According to early reports, fans of the game won’t have to wait too long to get their hands on it, with the release set for mid year, with a full reveal of the game’s cover and additional elements booked for sometime in May.
The biggest success though for the game in its revival is that it seems the issue of copying the likenesses of players which saw it stop back in the early 2010s for lawful reasons has been solved. EA Sports has reportedly offered up front payments to college players to use their name and looks for the game for a combined total of $5 million USD ($7.7 million AUD).
But with EA Sports’ college football video game set to hit shelves soon, here’s everything you need to know about one of 2024’s most anticipated games.
EA College Football 25 details
Release
Likely July – no official release date
There has been whispers that EA Sports was going to revive its college football game, but many were apprehensive about this.
But with the first official trailer being released in mid-February, all fans are on board the hype-train towards its unspecified release mid this year.
Suggested by The Athletic, the game should come out sometime around late July to early August based off previous release of it between 1997 and 2013.
As with all videos games, it will be available to purchase via each console’s app store, and the usual retailers for an unknown price as of February.
Trailer
Of course there is. Enjoy!
What features will be in the game?
‘EA College Football 25’ will be built off the same technology that builds the Madden games each year.
In trying to make it as realistic a product as possible to what the games actually look like in real life, the new look video game will include unique features such as playbooks and more realistic players, along with mascots and traditions that each university has.
Similar to previous college football games created by the company, game modes and features from the past such as ‘Dynasty’ and ‘Road To Glory’ will be brought into ‘EA College Football 25’. There will also be an ‘Ultimate Team’ mode, which will allow users to create a team of former college athletes — an insane concept that is sure to bring in more attention to the video game.
Fans are expecting the visuals to be incredible this time around with detailed players and most importantly stadiums and atmosphere, to create the actual feel on a college game. From what we saw in the first trailer, the jersey designs and animations of college traditions look as close to realistic as they come — so it’s fair to say expectations are high.
Sneak peek 👀 of @Brutus_Buckeye in @EASPORTSCollege Football 🎮 🏈
— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) November 22, 2022
➕: https://t.co/NdRI3iOThl https://t.co/TtJDOYDaw0 pic.twitter.com/Oqj9Fk3xC5
Fans are also hoping for EA Sports to make it feel like there’s a difference between playing this game and playing Madden. Obviously cause they’re created by the same company and are based on the same sport that is going to be hard, but there’s a call for player models and effectiveness to be altered to capture the sometimes flawed nature of college football.
Why has EA College Football been gone for so long?
EA Sports’ ‘NCAA Football’ was a game played by many growing up and has completely skipped a generation due to licensing issues that saw it taken away until now.
A lawsuit was filed against the NCAA by a group of former college athletes after they claimed EA Sports used their likeness without any permission or money, which resulted in some of them arguing they should be compensated for university merchandise.
Eventually the lawsuit was settled and paid former athletes who were not compensated for being in ‘NCAA Football 14’, with the NCAA announcing it would not renew its licensing agreement with EA Sports going forward.
For the upcoming video game, the most noticeable different off the jump is the fact that name has changed from ‘NCAA Football’ to ‘EA College Football’. This is because instead of coming to an agreement with the NCAA once again, EA Sports offered individual agreements to certain college athletes who would be compensated in return for their name, image and likeness.
It’s being reported that EA offered athletes money up front of an average of $500 per athlete, which has accumulated to a reported sum of $5 million USD.
The College Licensing Company which assists in US-based universities branded merchandise and EA Sports contacted 118 of the 134 college that play at a Division 1 level, although it’s important to note that not every college agreed to be in the game.
