After 11 long years, college football has returned to the gaming world. And it couldn’t have made a bigger impact upon launch.
If you use multiple forms of social media and follow sports, I dare you to scroll your timelines for a brief amount of time and not see posts regarding EA Sports’ College Football 25. It’s almost impossible. Heck, the first thing my boss did when he came in Tuesday morning was tell me about his experience playing the game the night before. The game is everywhere, and that’s not a bad thing, even if you’re not the gaming type.
For the gamer, it appears to be everything you hoped it would be. Embracing tradition, realistic stadiums and environments, cherished game modes and the gameplay you know and love. The previous installment of the game wasn’t a copy of its Madden counterpart, so it stood to reason that the new game would follow that same path. But the way EA Sports treated the Madden franchise over the past decade didn’t give fans that much faith considering how the game basically has turned into a cash grab and reskin of the latest game. But when the game released Monday, those fears were soon quelled.
Everything that had been advertised during the long waiting period before the game’s release came to fruition. It appears to be an authentic experience, and it’s something college football fans had long waited for.
For the non-gamer, it shows the positives of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). When the concept was first introduced, it aimed to give college athletes the opportunity to profit off of their names in advertisements and endorsement deals. It obviously spiraled out of control, as you can see with universities using dollar bills – lots of them – to lure players to their teams, but this is clearly a net positive at the end of the day.
The whole reason that the College Football games ceased production in the first place is because players’ likeness were being used without compensation. Sure, in NCAA 14 – the previous installment released 11 years ago – players’ real names weren’t used, but we all knew that QB No. 5 for Florida State was Jameis Winston. The avatar had his height, build and skill set, but his name wasn’t used. That wasn’t right, and it wasn’t right that they had no way of being paid. Now they do.
For each athlete that opted into College Football 25, he will be paid $600 and receive a copy of the game from EA Sports. That may not sound like much – especially to stars such as Shedeur Sanders and Quinn Ewers – but that’s certainly a good deal for a backup offensive guard at a school like Florida Atlantic or Sam Houston State, for example.
Fans of teams such as Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss or other colleges can now experience, once again, what it’s like to play on their favorite team’s field in their favorite team’s stadium. That’s a huge selling point.
According to HP in 2023, the best-selling sports game of all time is FIFA 18 with 24 million copies sold. If the hype continues for College Football 25, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is exceeded. After all, over 600,000 players were using the online game mode in the game just hours after its release – many who were merely playing the pre-ordered version and not using a physical copy.
The game will have staying power, and so will NIL.
