EA Sports College Football 25, among the most highly anticipated sports video games of all timeflooded the market as players who I waited more than a decade for the next installment of the franchise run to play.
The game officially launched on Friday, with EA Sports increasing server capacity during early access to deal with passion.
“To say we have been overwhelmed by the excitement, energy and anticipation surrounding College Football 25 over the past few months would be an understatement,” EA Sports said. said in a blog post this week. “Just like you, our team has had July 19th circled around for months as the culmination of so much work and dedication to building this game, and the chance to see it in the hands of players for the first time.”
EA Sports’ college football games used to be released annually, a cultural icon in American sports for much of the franchise’s existence. The company froze future editions in 2013 when athletes began to question why they weren’t being paid to participate in the games.
With athletes’ compensation rights settled in court and now allowed by the NCAA, EA Sports announced in 2021 that it would revive the franchise. The video game developer offered Bowl Subdivision players a minimum of $600 and a copy of the game to have their likeness included in it. More than 11,000 players accepted offers.
EA Sports said its goal with the game was to “feel like a love letter to college football and its fans.”
San Diego State and Colorado were among the schools hosting College Football 25 events this week. On social platforms, athletes like LeBron James, Tim Tebow and Michael Vick — even comedians Shane Gillis and Dan Soder — were live-streaming face-offs in the game.
Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, one of the cover athletes, said in May Some of the best moments of his childhood involved playing college football on EA Sports with his best friend.
“Just being back, and also being on the cover, it’s an incredible feeling,” he said.
The other athletes on the cover of the game’s standard edition are Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado two-way player Travis Hunter. The deluxe edition features the backs of several players in a stadium tunnel, including Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.
EA Sports’ college football franchise dates back to the 1990s. Its popularity grew in the early 2000s as gaming systems became more advanced, allowing for revolutionary game modes such as the popular Race for the Heisman create- a-player that was introduced in NCAA Football 06.
This edition also presented historic teamsincluding the 1992 Alabama team that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney played on.
“Sleeping on me a little bit,” Swinney joked about the 70 overall rating for his player, “WR No. 88,” who nevertheless had a 91 speed rating. “They must have my speed coming down the hill. I appreciate the love they gave me for this.”
___
AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli contributed to this report.
___
AP College Football: It is https://apnews.com/hub/college-football. Sign up for the AP College Football Newsletter:
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
