For those who don't know, I'm from central Ohio. The Ohio State University athletics department has a veritable cult following. If you wear blue and gold where I live, there will definitely be people who will give you bad comments. It happened a lot after I graduated from West Virginia University and moved back home. Nevertheless, that was all that mattered because WVU shares similar school colors with Ohio State's main college football rival, the University of Michigan. Why do I bring up this anecdote about people wearing the wrong color in Ohio State? Well, to prove that college football has a strong cultural influence.
College sports are everywhere, and people love the rivalry games of college sports that are part of the culture. In this game (Ohio State vs. Michigan), the people of Ohio crossed out all the “M's” in Central Ohio, and in the backyard brawl (WVU vs. Pitt), many fans in the stadium crossed out Sweet's They chanted naughty slogans along with the tune. caroline.
So if so many people are obsessed with college football, why hasn't there been a college football video game in the world for so long? Well, it's a complicated situation. It would take several columns to fully describe what happened. Essentially, EA Sports was using players' likenesses without compensating them in any way. The situation was further complicated by the fact that NCAA rules prevent college athletes from receiving compensation without jeopardizing their ability to play. Players revolted and lawsuits were filed. EA didn't have a good way out of that situation, so it shelved all of its college football video game brands and focused primarily on Madden NFL, which features professional players and existing licensing deals.
The NCAA passed name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules, allowing college athletes to earn money while playing college sports and while still students, including by having their likeness used in video games. Now it looks like this. With this issue finally resolved, it means college football can return to video games. That's why EA has announced that EA Sports College Football 25 will be released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on July 19th.
I have mixed feelings about this. First of all, I'm very happy to have the opportunity to play college football video games again. I still remember playing Career Mode many years ago and exporting the young college athletes I created there to the then current Madden title so they could enter the draft.
But like everything else these days, I can't really be happy with this announcement. College Football 25 will not be released for his PC, at least not initially. I only have an old Xbox. I don't have an Xbox Series X. I don't think you'll be able to buy an Xbox Series X right away. Moreover, in the pending game he has three versions, with the MVP version priced at $149.99. What are the benefits of the deluxe version? You'll get 4,600 College Points (I don't know what to spend them on) and the ultimate team digital item.
So here I get a little sad.
Why do we need an ultimate team mode at all? These titles are college-focused, with current athletes graduating in a few years and new people signing up to fill out the roster. It has become. You really can't have a dynasty that rotates that many players. Just because Madden NFL has an ultimate team mode doesn't mean every game needs it. Not to sound old, but it reminds me of when you used to pay a lot of money for things like pre-order bonuses and get things like statues and helmets to display in your room.
College football video games have typically attracted a different audience than Madden or other NFL titles. EA Sports hasn't released a college football game in over a decade. I'm happy to see that, but I hope EA doesn't try to take advantage of the players. Personally, I would love to play career mode at WVU and rediscover my love for football and video games all over again. I haven't really enjoyed playing a Madden title since Madden 09.
Maybe EA will step up and prove me wrong. I hope College Football 25 is great. If not, I think you can go back to playing NCAA Football 09. But here's hoping the future of college football video games is bright. And we hope College Football 25 is exactly what it needs to restore that glory.
