EA College Football 25 becomes highest selling sports game ever

Jerred Johnson | Dec 19, 2024

Michigan running back Donovan Edwards (7) warms up before the Oregon game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When EA Sports announced the return of their popular college football game, people of all ages rejoiced. The iconic game was beloved by both children and parents who had grown up playing it. The game's revival was made possible by the new NIL aspect of college athletics, which allowed EA Sports to pay players for their name, image, and likeness, enabling the inclusion of real players in the game.

Over 14,000 athletes across 134 teams opted in, each receiving a one-time payment of $600 and a copy of the game. Critics scoffed at the amount, and many players felt they should have received royalties instead of a one-time payment. Nevertheless, EA Sports successfully revived the franchise and selected RB Donovan Edwards, Texas QB Quinn Ewers, and Colorado dual-threat Travis Hunter (the newly minted Heisman Winner) to grace the cover of the game.

EA College Football 25 has become the best-selling sports video game in U.S. history in dollars, surpassing NBA 2K21.

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— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 18, 2024

Circana, an analytics and research company, has College Football 25 rated as the number one game in 2024 based on sales and downloads. The game came in first over video game titan Call of Duty. This year's COD game, Black Ops 6, came in second but has been number one in sales and downloads over the last two months. Most importantly, it looks like the infamous Madden curse, shoutout to Christian McCaffrey, has not embedded itself into the college football game. Travis Hunter won the Heisman, Quinn Ewers has his Texas team in the hunt for a CFP National Championship, and Donovan Edwards completed his season, and career at U of M with a fourth straight win over Ohio State.

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