Highlights
- College Football 25 offers a fresh alternative to the usual sports games, appealing to both fans and newcomers.
- The game’s unique features and presentation set it apart from the competition, giving sports gamers more variety.
- EA Sports’ success with College Football 25 may pave the way for new and exciting changes in other sports games.
The success of College Football 25 has the sports game world in a unique state. Fans are used to NBA 2K, Madden, and MLB: The Show as the only major annual games for their respective sports. Another football game hitting the market and winning over a large percentage of football video game fans has been a welcome change to the same routine.
A lack of variety and general options leads to more unhappy customers feeling trapped with one game if they love a sport enough. Fans get used to playing each game while the sports seasons are taking place to desire more options. College Football 25’s success should open the eyes of sports leagues, video game companies, and users to demand more sports games.
Related
College Football 25: How To Play With Friends
College Football 25 is another great title for you to flex your gaming skills against your friends. Here’s how to do it.
The appeal of feeling new and fresh will always help video games build more momentum. College Football 25 ensured that a different game with new features and differences from Madden would hit the market. Content creators and streamers have embraced College Football 25, with many gamers who don’t even watch college sports getting immersed in this video game.
On paper, College Football 25 is not too different from Madden or other sports games. An ultimate team mode requires collecting valuable cards to create a dream roster utilizing college football and NFL legends to increase star power. Dynasty and Road to Glory modes present similar stories and career advancement modes that sports fans have become accustomed to. However, it feels fresher in a new presentation.
College Football 25 offers subtle changes that play more into the college football side. The presentation of marching bands, cooler football stadiums with color schemes matching the team, and other fun little differences provide enough of a change of pace. Even the gameplay has enough small upgrades to feel fresher to the average sports video game fan. The road team’s player having to deal with a rowdier crowd hurting their precision or the wild cat offense allowing riskier play calling feels authentic to the college football experience.
The biggest complaint about Madden, MLB: The Show, and NBA 2K is that these franchises recycle most of the smaller things to make the game experience feel identical every year. Future College Football games could run into this problem, but it is nowhere near anyone’s mind right now. The first release in over a decade gave College Football 25 the chance to experiment and show their own niche in a sport with a powerhouse NFL video game franchise.
Past eras of sports video games would see multiple companies releasing annual games. Franchises like NFL Blitz, NBA Jam, and MVP Baseball used to have fun differences from the games we now know as the only major one for each league. EA Sports running both Madden NFL 25 and College Football 25 gives the perk to create both games with their resources and the full support of the NFL and NCAA.
However, the same path to a college basketball video game wouldn’t play out unless 2K gets the rights to make the game. The NBA signed an exclusive rights deal with 2K to give both sides what each wants. NBA 2K is the only major licensed NBA game that’ll see production until the agreement ends, as the NBA gets a massive check in exchange.
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 offered a side project for 2K with street basketball in a more cartoonish and less realistic experience. The limited roster and weak gameplay prevented it from feeling as fun as past games like NBA Jam or NBA Street. The disappointment of Playgrounds 2 saw 2K putting all its eggs in the NBA 2K annual game and not focusing on any other NBA projects.
The past fun of having multiple sports games for each major league gave users the chance to find their ideal sports gaming experience. Today’s climate sees the options limited and causes burnout for those who don’t love the same things every year. College Football 25’s success could be found with the right game in the NBA and MLB communities changing things for the better.
EA Sports College Football 25
The first entry in EA’s series since 2013’s NCAA Football 14, EA Sports College Football 25 is a sports sim that focuses on realistically capturing the college football scene.
- Franchise
- EA Sports College Football
- Released
- July 19, 2024
- Developer(s)
- EA Orlando
- ESRB
- E For Everyone Due To Alcohol Reference
