It’s fair to say college football fans are extremely passionate about their sport. The same could also be said about their video game.
There may be no sports video game with as fiery of a fanbase than EA Sports College Football. For more than a decade, the game was dormant due to due legal issues over college athletes and their name, image and likeness issues. It finally returned in 2024 with College Football 25, and the second edition of the revived series was released in July.
EA Sports finally delivered a product people craved, with plans to do it on an annual basis. Now the challenge is making sure it’s creating something that satisfies that hungry, spirited group of devout gamers.
Because it knows what the product means to the sport.
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“It’s an influential piece of college sports to have this game back,” EA Sports senior vice president Daryl Holt told USA TODAY Sports.
Even with so much hype, College Football 25 exceeded the company’s expectations, Holt said. Safe to say considering it was the top selling video game of 2024 and became the best-selling sports game in U.S. history according to Inside Gaming.
There were plenty of things that needed to be fixed or overhauled in the second installment, but it set the bar for the franchise’s future. Developers were aware of this as Evan Dexter, vice president of brand strategy and marketing for American football at EA Sports, noted the team “had to make sure that the sophomore season wasn’t going to be anything less than a breakout rookie season.”
Good thing CFB 25 set the stage for its successor.
College football is steeped in tradition, and the video game needed to be authentic if it was going to succeed. From the fight songs, entrances, chants, stadiums and play styles, no team is the same, and the uniqueness of every FBS school has to be conveyed.
Developers have preached the game is made for college football fans, by college football fans, as Dexter adds traditions, pageantry and atmosphere are the main pillars of the game. That determination was displayed last year’s release, and those details led to a further desire of wanting more in the latest one.
With an open policy for assets, Holt said EA Sports got a plethora of requests from schools asking if they could get their traditions in the game after seeing how many were in the 2024 edition. Sean O’Brien, EA Sports vice president of business development, added there were many instances of school employees “running around campus, the stadium” to take photos and videos of their institution so those specific details could be added.
What’s also helped in CFB 26 is the addition of real-life coaches, joining what O’Brien said is more than 11,000 players in the game. He said there was overwhelming support from coaches to be included in the game, and they’ve realized their inclusion is a recruiting tool; by seeing how their schemes, style and success, it could draw younger gamers to one day want to actually play for them.
Only 12 head coaches aren’t in the game, most notably Bill Belichick, Deion Sanders and Mario Cristobal. While the North Carolina coach likely won’t ever appear given his lack of participation in the Madden franchise, O’Brien feels confident those not part of it and future coaches will want to be included. He noted the “FOMO (fear of missing out) is real.”
“It’s more than just Electronic Arts releasing a video game that players get to play. It’s the schools and the players celebrating the fact that they’re now in the game,” O’Brien said.
So far, the EA Sports executives say CFB 26 has been a success. Production director Christian McLeod previously told USA TODAY Sports there was a heavy emphasis on community feedback to shape the game, and it resulted in a “really strong response” this year, Dexter said.
What’s next for EA Sports College Football?
Even with the favorable reviews and solid additions, there’s still part of the fanbase that aren’t exactly thrilled with the new game. Whether it’s uniforms, game mechanics or game mode features, it speaks to how critical its audience can be. A recent update to the game fixed some concerns, but there’s still a good amount still unhappy .
EA Sports understands how much criticism it gets, and they actually enjoy hearing it. Dexter calls it “incredible problems” to have with a dedicated group of players that want so much more added. The critiques help mold the game and aid the plan in how to advance the series.
It’s why as the development team was wrapping up CFB 26, it was already planning what’s going into College Football 27 with EA Sports is invested in keeping the franchise going for years to come.
“We have to continue to innovate,” Holt said. “We can’t just rest on our laurels and make minor improvements. We have to make substantial improvements and invest over multiple years for some things that we can do differently.”
So what could be coming to the College Football video game franchise?
The production of the next game has begun, and while the EA Sports executives didn’t tip their hand about changes in the summer of 2026, it did give a vision of what could eventually arrive.
Holt said about every 10 years, a paradigm shift happens in sports video games where there are substantial upgrades in how they operate. That shift is approaching soon, and he believes it’s going to result in some big changes.
He noted among the enhancements could be more accurate player likeness and improvements in stadium building, which could one day lead to allowing players to make their own stadiums. It was once a past feature in the NCAA Football series, and in the TeamBuilder school creator, there are only generic stadiums players can use.
“There is no rest for the weary,” Holt said. “We are having a conversation daily, and we’re thinking about the game and how we’re going to adapt and evolve it just about every moment we can. You don’t get to just take a day off from creating.
“They will get more authentic and real, not just in visuals, but in how things operate and what you can do in the games. The gameplay will get more realistic, more control for our players and immersive, and then all the things that surround it, on the field and off the field,” he added.
What’s nice is after spending so many years trying to just get the game to come back, now it’s a multi-year approach where there’s constant development and planning on not just one game, but several down the road. The future talk of the franchise could give fans optimism of where the game goes, but the executives know they can’t just talk about it. There is such a high demand for this game to be great.
“Sometimes speaking is not enough,” Dexter said. “We’ve got to be able to come and show them exactly what they want and that we have listened.”
EA Sports College Football is here to stay, and the company is excited to see where its game and passionate fanbase will go.
“It’s for college football fans, by college football fans, and that’s never going to change,” Holt said.