The long-awaited resurgence of the NCAA football video game franchise will lead to a major refresh of the brand.
Matt Brown of Extra Points reported that EA Sports College Football 25 will have several canopy athletes and will come with existing players beyond the legends. The stars of the canopy will come from other Power Five meetings and play in other positions, so there will be no overlap between the two.
Older NCAA football games allowed the names and likeness of existing players, identifying them only through their location and jersey number. As a result, EA Sports has relied heavily on capable stars who have just left the ranks of the school when it comes to its pavilion stars. .
NCAA Football 06 was a notable exception, with Desmond Howard, winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1991, receiving the honor. Barry Sanders, winner of the 1988 Heisman, also shared the canopy of NCAA Football Thirteen with Robert Griffin III.
Once it became clear that College Football 25 would have the full names and symbol of the student-athletes who had signed up, the door was thrown wide open for the school’s active players to grace the canopy of the new game. Brown talked about Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Colorado’s Shedeur. Sanders and Travis Hunter among the apparent possibilities.
It will be appealing to see how EA Sports tackles the presence of canopy athletes.
In a past generation, this might have been straightforward, as each player was assigned a general geographic region. Aguamaniles, for example, would be in the college football canopy with 25 copies sold in the Southwest or Southeast. However, in virtual sales of video games, these geographical boundaries have been blurred.
It’s possible that EA Sports simply makes Express Athletes exclusive to certain consoles, which is what it did with NCAA Football 09 and 10. It will most likely split players between the popular and premium editions of College Football 25.
The first trailer for the long-awaited game arrived in February and featured few details.
EA Sports is planning a “full reveal” for May.