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. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), whose brand was licensed by EA, had a history of resisting attempts to financially compensate its athletes.[3] As a part of the settlement, EA announced it would stop producing college football video games.[4]
The 2021 United States Supreme Court case NCAA. v. Alston deemed the NCAA's precedent of avoiding compensating athletes impermissible.[5] Following the ruling, the NCAA reversed its position, creating rules for likeness compensation.[6] In 2023, after the implementation of these changes, EA announced that player likenesses would be featured in their next college football game.[7] In February 2024, EA revealed that they would pay each athlete a flat $600 payment and a copy of the game for allowing the NIL to be used; athletes who decline to allow EA to use their identity will be replaced in-game with a generic, auto-generated character and EA would block players from creating and inserting the athlete into the game manually.[8][9] By early March 2024, EA had secured NIL opt-ins from over 10,000 athletes. [10] Similarly, the Heisman Trophy and the various bowls will appear in the game, but the National College Football Awards Association requested that their awards and trophies not be included; the Lou Groza Award is the coalition's only honor to opt into the game.[11][12][13][14] The game is developed using the Frostbite engine.[15]
Release
College Football 25 was pitched to EA Sports by Daryl Holt, their current senior vice president and group general manager, in December 2019, being greenlit for development shortly after.[16] In February 2021, EA publicly announced that the College Football series would return.[17] EA Orlando, developers of the Madden NFL series, was announced to be creating the game.[18] On February 15, 2024, EA confirmed the game's title as EA Sports College Football 25 and revealed a trailer for it, promising to provide further information in May 2024.[19]
On May 16, 2024, EA Sports revealed the main cover of the game, featuring Quinn Ewers, quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, Travis Hunter, wide receiver and defensive back for the Colorado Buffaloes, and Donovan Edwards, running back for the Michigan Wolverines, and officially confirmed the game would release on July 19, 2024, with early access for Deluxe Edition owners starting July 15, ahead of its gameplay reveal trailer the following day.[27] Following the release of the trailer, EA Sports confirmed that many of its old features from NCAA Football 14 would be brought to College Football 25 such as Team Builder, Road to Glory, and Dynasty.[28] The gameplay deep dive that released on May 31 unveiled features such as "CampusIQ," the gameplay system, which encompasses three fundamental pillars: "All 22+" which highlights the importance of individual players and their unique abilities, "134 ways to play," meaning that every team has their own unique playbook, and "Stories of Saturday," which seeks to encapsulate the raw emotions of these student athletes as they perform under intense pressure in hostile environments, put simply, a freshman responding far differently than a senior.[29]
On June 28, 2024, EA Sports revealed its top 25 overall team power rankings, and on July 2, 2024, Dynasty was revealed.[30][31]
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.[32] As well as the trailer, the day after, an Ultimate Team Deep Dive was posted. However, unlike previous deep dives, this one was posted only to their official website. Following the same set, the Road to Glory Deep Dive released on July 11, 2024.
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. The worldwide release was on July 19.
Reception
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EA Sports College Football 25 received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregatorMetacritic.[39] At launch, the game attracted more than 2.8 million players, 2.2 million of whom purchased the Deluxe Edition, which allowed players to access the game three days earlier than other players.[40]
IGN gave the game a 7/10, praising the gameplay but criticizing the lack of depth in the core game modes.[37]GameSpot rated the game an 8/10, noting that the game had strong presentation and atmosphere but critiquing the Road to Glory game mode.[36]
^Rothstein, Michael (2024-05-17). "'They didn't take no for an answer': Inside the return of EA Sports College Football". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2024-07-02. Holt, now the senior vice president and group general manager of EA Sports, understood the concerns and questions his bosses might have when he pitched the potential return of EA Sports College Football in December 2019.
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