College Football 25was a breath of fresh air for fans of sports games, which likely helped it earn its spot as one of the best-selling sports games of all time. It can be hard to get excited about new sports games, butCollege Football 25seems to have had the perfect combination of elementsto make it widely appealing. EA also seems to have put a high level of effort into makingCollege Football 25, something that can’t always be said about an EA Sports title.
Looking at the success ofCollege Football 25, it’s hard to say if its success is the start of a new era for sports games, or if it is simply a flash in the pan. After all, it could be difficult for future titles to recreate the exact circumstances that seem to have led to the game’s high sales numbers. While some other sports games sold well this year,likeEA Sports FC 25, none were able to achieve the same heights asCollege Football 25.
College Football 25 Is Officially The Best-Selling Sports Game Ever
College Football 25 Is Also In The Top 50 Best-Selling Games
According toMat Piscatella, an Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana,College Football 25is officially the highest selling sports game in US historyusing the metric of dollar sales. Given the prominence of sports titles - many sports franchises release a new game every year - this is an impressive accomplishment forCollege Football 25. However, it didn’t just beat out other sports games when it came to sales.
According to Piscatella,College Football 25is also “among the top 50 best-selling tracked video games of all time.” It’s one thing forCollege Football 25to top the charts of a specific genre, but it’s even more impressive for it to reach the top 50 of all sorts of video games. There is clearly something special aboutCollege Football 25that makes it more appealing than any other sports game.
Why CFB 25 Sold So Well - & Why CFB 26 May Not
College Football 25was essentially the perfect storm. To start, it wasthe first college football game to come out in a decade. Itspredecessor,NCAA Football 14,was well-lovedby fans, and grew something of a cult following after EA decided to part ways with the NCAA and stop making college football games. This made fans eager to see the franchise return in the form ofCollege Football 25, generating a lot of hype around the game’s release.
Players were excited to see what innovations EA would makeon the college football formula 10 years down the line. A lot of people seemed genuinely interested in learning more about how the game was being made, and EA helped foster that hype with a slew of behind-the-scenes videos. These videos give players a look at the immense effort put into recapturing not just the action on the field, but all the aspects of college football that fans love. This only helped foster more excitement about the game.
Another reasonCollege Football 25was a very buzzy game was because it represented a major change in the world of college football. Part of the reason EA originally stopped making these games was because of a series of lawsuits the company had to settle in regard to using the names and likenesses of college athletes (viaUSA Today). However, college athletes are now allowed to sign name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals that allow them to make money by selling the rights to their image. This was big news in college sports, andCollege Football 25made itself part of that conversation.
Of course, buzz can only get a game so far. Spectacular failures in video gamereleases likeCyberpunk 2077andNo Man’s Skyhave proven that just because there is a lot of hype around a game doesn’t necessarily mean it will have a successful launch. That’s why it was so important toCollege Football 25’s success that it wasn’t just a hyped game, but also a good one.
Thankfully forCollege Football 25,it managed to live up to the hype. Its lovingly recreated college stadiums and traditions make it feel far more immersive than football games likeMadden NFL 25where switching teams can sometimes just feel like swapping jerseys.College Football 25also had exciting playbooks and some engaging game modes that make it fun to play in a variety of ways. Had the game not executed all these aspects as well as it does, it seems unlikely it would have seen the continued success months after release that have led to it topping the charts.
Will College Football 26 Sell As Well?
Given the unique circumstances that helpedCollege Football 25become successful, it seems unlikely that a potentialCollege Football 26would achieve the same numbers. There is no longer the hype surrounding the franchise’s return after 10 years, and the idea of players getting paid for their appearance in the game will be old news by then. It also seems unlikely that EA will feel the need to put in the same level of effort to promote the game now that the first one was such a hit.
College Football 25: How To Throw a Touch Pass
Regardless of which control scheme you use in College Football 25 a touch pass is an effective weapon that should be your go to passing option.
One wayCollege Football 26could try to recapture some of the hype is by continuing its effort to capture what makes each school unique. While certain colleges like Florida and Oregon had their traditions and mascots lovingly recreated in the game, not all teams got the same treatment. Continuing to go to other schools and giving more fans the chance to experience their school’s unique celebrations in the game could help keep some of the hype of the first game alive.
However, even ifCollege Football 26puts as much effort into making the game a fun and immersive experience, it still has an uphill battle to recapture the same level of interest thatCollege Football 25had. Although technically a revival ofNCAA Football,College Football 25felt like something new.College Football 26would just be another installment of a new annual sports franchise, something players are pretty sick of. Without any major innovations on the previous game, many players who boughtCollege Football 25will likely choose to skip next year’s model.
