It’s been over ten years since EA’s long-running NCAA Football franchise saw its last entry. Legal issues surrounding player likeness put the franchise on ice until now. EA is dropping the NCAA part of the title, with the game being called College Football 25.
EA dropped a short teaser alongside the announcement. There’s zero gameplay, but we get a few seconds of renderings, with one of them confirming Notre Dame will be in the game.
In 2021, Notre Dame said it would not be participating in the game, citing rules around name, image, and likeness (NIL) not being finalized yet. Whatever issues were a problem at the time have since been resolved.
While we have to wait until May for the full reveal, we know a few features coming to College Football 25. Ultimate, Dynasty, and Road to Glory modes have been confirmed.
As for a release date? The old college football video games typically targeted the first half of July, and EA will likely keep that date. The College Football regular season kicks off in late August, but the hype around it is pretty much year-round.
Madden and college football fans will be looking to see how polished the game appears in its first big reveal. Bugs and what fans describe as “copy/paste” are common criticisms in the past few years for Madden. But they always sell.
Sports games are enormous on consoles, so barring a complete disaster, College Football 25 is guaranteed to sell well. The last two versions of Madden sit comfortably on Xbox’s most-played games chart. College Football 25 will join it when it comes out later this year.