EA's College Football Games: From NCAA Football to CFB 25

For years, EA put out a new college football game every year. Then, in 2013, the series stopped, and it stayed dormant for more than a decade. Here's a fan's tour of the NCAA Football years, why the series paused after NCAA Football 14, and how it returned in 2024 as EA Sports College Football 25.

Before the NCAA name

EA's own history of the franchise starts in 1993 with Bill Walsh College Football on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. EA didn't have a license yet, so the game had no real teams or schools. You could, however, play tournaments with modern teams or with 24 all-time great college teams.

Next came College Football USA 96 (1995), which EA says was the first in the series with every Division I-A team, 108 at the time. It was also the only video game appearance of the Southwest Conference, which broke up in 1996.

The PlayStation years

The series became NCAA Football with NCAA Football 98 (1997). GameSpot's review of the PlayStation version described it as EA bringing its college line to the new 32-bit consoles. It praised the official NCAA license, real bowl games and 122 college stadiums. Player names were the one thing missing, which GameSpot attributed to NCAA rules about paying college players.

According to EA's history, NCAA Football 98 also introduced Dynasty mode, which became the most popular mode in franchise history. In its first version, Dynasty mostly meant replacing graduating seniors with incoming freshmen. NCAA Football 99 then let you export your college players to Madden NFL 99, so your Heisman winner could start a pro career.

PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360

EA calls NCAA Football 06 one of the biggest leaps in franchise history. It overhauled Dynasty with scouting and recruiting, so schools now competed for top prospects, and added Race for the Heisman, a career mode where your on-field play shaped your ratings.

NCAA Football 07 brought the series to the Xbox 360. GameSpot's review called the 360 version a fine start for the series' next generation, and the game also came out on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PSP. EA highlights more favorites from the years that followed:

• NCAA Football 09: the "Quarterback Quiz," which taught you to read coverages after an interception, plus crowd noise that could rattle your quarterback and the ability to ice the kicker.
• NCAA Football 10: TeamBuilder for creating your own school, and Road to Glory, narrated by Erin Andrews.
• NCAA Football 13: Heisman Challenge, which let you play as past Heisman winners, and dual cover athletes Barry Sanders and Robert Griffin III.
• NCAA Football 14: physics-based tackling through the Infinity Engine, plus Ultimate Team and Coach Skills in Dynasty. It came out in July 2013 with Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on the cover.

Why the series paused

This part of the story involved the courts, so here is what reputable outlets reported, without taking sides.

The Associated Press reported that EA's yearly college football games stopped in 2013 amid lawsuits over using players' likenesses without paying them. The games didn't use players' real names, but their virtual players closely resembled each season's real stars. The AP describes a 2009 class-action suit filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon as what could be considered a forerunner of the name, image and likeness (NIL) litigation that followed.

After NCAA Football 14, the NCAA said in July 2013 that it wouldn't renew its licensing deal with EA because of the litigation, Bleacher Report noted. In late September 2013, EA announced it would not publish a college football game in 2014. Cam Weber, EA Sports' general manager for American football, said in a statement, reproduced by Bleacher Report, that the company had "been stuck in the middle of a dispute between the NCAA and student-athletes." He also said the NCAA and several conferences had withdrawn their support for the game. The New York Times, quoted by Bleacher Report, reported that EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company agreed to pay $40 million to settle their part of the case.

The return

On February 2, 2021, EA announced that the series was coming back under a new name, EA Sports College Football, working with the Collegiate Licensing Company. At first EA said the new game would not use athletes' names, images or likenesses.

That changed. The AP reported that the big obstacle was cleared once college athletes were allowed to make NIL deals. In February 2024, EA said players who opted in would receive at least $600 and a copy of the game. Players who opted out would be left out entirely, and gamers would be blocked from adding them by hand. The game would feature all 134 FBS teams. The AP also noted that players could still create their own athletes, a staple of the older games, and EA Sports executive Daryl Holt told ESPN that a generic player would take the place of anyone who opted out.

EA's announcement confirmed that EA Sports College Football 25 launched worldwide on July 19, 2024, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. EA Tiburon developed it in Orlando, Florida, and Madrid, Spain. The cover featured Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, and Colorado's two-way star Travis Hunter.

Where things stand

The comeback wasn't a one-off. As of late October 2026, EA's official College Football site features College Football 27 as the current game, alongside College Football 26 and a mobile game. Many of the series' signature features, such as Dynasty, recruiting and Road to Glory, trace back to the NCAA Football years described above.