EA Sports College Football 25 had a “glimmer of hope” four years before release this summer, according to EA’s Christian McLeod.
The gaming franchise was dormant since the summer of 2013, the last game to be released. Now a decade later, it’s finally back and it’s been met with a bevy of positive reactions.
McLeod told the story of when he thought this was possible.
“I would say probably about four years ago we started to have some discussions right before the pandemic,” McLeod said on Andy Staples On3. “And there was a glimmer of hope. And from there, it became real, you know, about a year and a half later. And so what was super exciting about that whole situation was just getting the gang back together and starting to build that team back up. And to Ben’s point, we’re a bunch of college football sickos …
“I used to play Madden 93 as the New York Jets because they’re green and white, I pretended in a binder … this was my college football game. And so, you know, we had that moment where it became real.”
EA Sports College Football 25 is a hyped product. The production started small but once it became more of a possibility, the staff increased and it was put into reality.
“And then we started to build this team and we had five people, then seven people then 12 people and finally ramped up that full production,” McLeod said. “And I think that’s when it became very real, but to be honest with you, you know, what became real for me was when we hit that trailer. When that trailer came out a couple of weeks ago, that was the moment where we had been so far in the forest and that we haven’t been able to see everything outside of it.”
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, Colorado wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter and Michigan running back Donovan Edwards are all featured on EA College Football 25’s cover. The game also includes all 134 FBS teams and the name, image and likeness of current players.
The original EA college football video game franchise ran from 1998 until 2013. Moving from the Bill Walsh College Football moniker to NCAA Football, the annual game was eventually discontinued. Lawsuits emerged, most notably former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and 19 others’ decision to sue the NCAA, arguing the organization violated United States antitrust laws by not allowing athletes to make a share of the revenues generated from the use of their in broadcasts and video games.
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