Next week, the long awaited follow-up to the critically acclaimed EA Sports College Football 25, EA Sports College Football 26, will come out.
But somehow, that isn’t the biggest news in college sports video games.
As Extra Points reported Monday, EA Sports submitted the winning bid to bring back an officially licensed college basketball video game, news that the company quickly confirmed.
While EA Sports did not confirm any specific timetable to release their basketball title, a memo that the Collegiate Licensing Company sent to college conferences and schools said that EA submitted a six-year contract that would begin in 2028.
Basketball games’ rocky history
There was zero doubt that EA would eventually bring back their college football franchise as soon as the NCAA changed rules to allow the company to compensate athletes for use of their name, image and likeness. The college football series, previously known as NCAA Football, was a perennial best seller across multiple platforms.
But previous college basketball titles weren’t nearly as commercially successful. The CLC memo reported that typically, college football games sold three times as many units per year as college basketball games. Plus, the already smaller college basketball market was split between two different licensed titles: the EA produced March Madness series of games, and the Sega Sports/2K College Basketball 2K video games.
2K Sports stopped producing basketball titles after 2008. The last EA Sports college basketball title was in 2009…well before the college football game ended in 2013.
But when the football series returned with EA Sports College Football 25, it demolished nearly every commercial expectation. In fact, it became the best-selling sports game ever in the United States.
A unique deal in sports video games
Most major sports video games are annual releases. Every season brings a new Madden, a new NBA2k, a new MLB The Show. Annual releases aren’t just profitable for video game publishers; they’re a way to make sure that leagues and unions get a steady stream of licensing revenue.
According to the CLC Memo, EA Sports proposed a more unique arrangement. While EA retains the rights to publish a college basketball game every year, they are only promising to publish at least three games. In the event that EA waits a year before releases, the company would put out a roster update as downloadable content.
Many video game consumers have pushed for this model, as they believe that annual releases give developers too little time to properly innovate and make each release feel new. We’ll have to see if waiting a year or so between games will ease the risk for EA Sports, as college basketball, even after a blockbuster year of college football sales, remains a more niche video game market than professional basketball or baseball.
And what about 2K?
EA Sports doesn’t currently make an AAA-level basketball simulation game, and hasn’t since NBA Live 19. The basketball simulation market has been dominated by 2K, the publisher of the popular NBA2K series.
The CLC memo states that the organization sent out a RFP to multiple video game companies, but EA Sports was the only company willing to compete to publish a stand-alone title that would showcase every single D-I men’s and women’s basketball game, as opposed to simply including college basketball IP in an NBA game.
The memo also states that EA is requiring an “exclusive license” for “action simulation” rights. This would likely mean that EA and 2K (or another studio) would not both be allowed to produce competing titles. Another publisher could potentially make an action game that wasn’t meant to be a simulation (like an NBA Jam), or perhaps a management simulator, (like Football Manager), but not a game similar to the 2K College Basketball series.
But Tuesday, 2K Sports published the following statement:
“2K is the undisputed home of basketball gaming. We have a strong history with college hoops and are exploring exciting new ways to bring athletes and schools to life. Class is in session.”
They also published the following tweet: “The campus has been quiet for too long.”
It isn’t clear, as of press time, exactly what 2K has planned, but it is probable that EA won’t be the only studio to try something with college basketball.
Will there be a competitive publisher battle in the college sports video game space, something the industry hasn’t seen in over fifteen years? Could success in college basketball lead developers to consider bringing back other dormant titles, like College Baseball? Will there be enough consumer demand to support another major college basketball title?
2028 can’t get here soon enough. But luckily, at least we’ll have a new college football game to take the edge off in a few days.
Matt Brown is the publisher of Extra Points, a newsletter covering business, policy and off-the-field stories in college athletics. Earlier this week, Extra Points acquired NIL Wire, which will expand company offerings across college sports business coverage.
