EA Sports College Football 25 to be released on July 19

EA Sports officially announced on Thursday that College Football 25 will be released on July 19. The full reveal for the highly anticipated video game will drop on Friday, but we did get more insight about the the title on Thursday morning.

The primary standard cover will feature Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, Colorado DB/WR Travis Hunter, and Michigan running back Donovan Edwards. This confirmation comes just six days after the trio were revealed as cover athletes for the Deluxe Edition of the game. We also found out that gamers who pre-order the deluxe edition will receive three-day early access to the title, along with a few other perks.

This is another major step towards the long awaited return of the franchise, formerly going by the name NCAA Football. The last title to be released was NCAA Football ‘14 in the summer of 2013. The game exploded in popularity in the 2000’s as graphics improved and beloved features were added to the game. The most popular feature was dynasty mode, where players could take control of any program and build it up season-by-season. Road to Glory mode also became a staple, where players create a player and control them throughout their entire college career.

However, the beginning of the end of the series came as a result of O’Bannon vs. NCAA, an antitrust class action lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon. He argued that NCAA licensed companies like EA Sports were wrongfully using the image and likeness of its athletes without proper compensation. For example, old NCAA games would list a star like Tim Tebow as “QB 15”, but use his exact height and weight measurements, along with making the player look similar to him in real life.

District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the NCAA did violate antitrust laws by barring payments to athletes for their name, image, and likeness and EA Sports eventually settled with O’Bannon and other plaintiffs part of the suit. EA was actually willing to continue the series by paying players for their likeness, but the NCAA and conferences like the SEC pushed back and pulled their trademarks, effectively killing the game. NCAA ‘14 would be the final game of the series for over a decade.