For the first time in 11 years, millions of Americans will be popping a new college football video game into their consoles.
The games have been on the shelf since EA Sports put out NCAA Football 14, with lawsuits surrounding name, image, and likenesses for college athletes forcing developers to pull the plug. But new rules allowing athletes to profit have breathed new life into EA Sports’ Orlando studio, where EA Sports College Football 25 is in the final stages of development.
EA Sports welcomed News 6 to talk with one of the game’s top developers on what it’s been like bringing the complex college football ecosystem back onto a digital platform.
“We’re super excited to have real players in the game for the first time,” said Christian McLeod, a production director with EA. “Playing with real players has always been a dream scenario, and to see them in the game as they started to sign and be put into the rosters it was really surreal.”
McLeod says 100 people worked on the game in the Orlando studio alone, with hundreds more from teams across the country contributing to the artwork, commentary, gameplay, and other aspects. Teams of developers traveled nationwide, attending games to make sure they nailed the spirit of college football, and of course, the pageantry.
The result is a “pageantry codex:” all the unique aspects to each of the 134 teams, traditions, and stadiums in the game, and what’s most important to all of them. Developers couldn’t even squeeze it all into this year’s game, leaving room for new updates in future editions of the game.
“There’s so much here. I was blown away by some of the small touches in terms of the chants or the fight songs or something that happens in the game that I wasn’t even expecting,” McLeod said. “The coolest part about this is you’re going to be able to discover all new traditions and pageantry. This is going to make people fans of college football.”
And what better place to bring the game back than Central Florida. McLeod says UCF, Florida State, and Florida all welcomed developers in, and many schools across the country sent in photos and videos of their stadiums and what gives them unique identities.
But McLeod says EA’s top priority is to satisfy the core fans who’ve waited over a decade for a new game. And as long as people are happy, it’s a success to him.
“There’s one chance to make a second first impression,” McLeod said. “We can’t disappoint people.”
EA Sports College Football 25 comes out July 19 on PlayStation 5, and XBox Series X and S.
Check out every episode of Riff On This in the media player below: