Electronic Arts’ revival of the college football series is off to a wild start, with the publisher announcing on Friday that EA Sports College Football 25which officially debuted on Friday, has amassed over 2.8 million players, 2.2 million of whom paid for the opportunity to play the sports simulation in Early Access.
Deluxe Edition for $99.99 EA Sports College Football 25 offered three days of early access, which led to a massive install base long before the game’s official release. EA said in a press release that an additional 600,000 players got their hands on College Football 25 through EA Play, which offers early trials of some Electronic Arts titles.
In addition to the deluxe version, the standalone College Football 25EA also sells an MVP bundle for $149.99 that includes the deluxe editions EA Sports College Football 25 AND Madden NFL 25and other in-game bonuses such as virtual currencies. This is an attractive offer for football fans who would already spend around $140 if they purchased these games separately.
On Tuesday, when the Early Access period begins EA Sports College Football 25 game statistics showed that more than 700,000 players were online at the same time. On Friday, a few hours after the game officially launched, the number of concurrent players was around 550,000.
According to data from research company Circana (formerly NPD), EA Sports College Football 25 ranks 3rd in terms of busy Xbox users in the US (behind Call of Duty HQ and Fortnite), and No. 4 on PlayStation 5 (for COD, FortniteAND Grand Theft Auto 5), in early access, according to executive director and video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella.
According to Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, as of July 17, EA Sports College Football was the 3rd most busy daily game on Xbox Series in the U.S. (behind Call of Duty HQ and Fortnite) and 4th on PS5 (COD, Fortnite, and GTAV).
…and it’s still in Early Access.
Phew.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 18, 2024
Waiting for EA Sports College Football 25 was high, which is natural since Electronic Arts has not released a college football game since 2013, when it was released NCAA Football 14.
Fortunately for fans of college football video games, EA’s return to the space was not only a commercial success, but also a critical one. Polygon’s review, by critic Matt Brown, says: EA Sports College Football 25 “it was worth waiting”.
EA Sports College Football 25 is now available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
