# EA Sports College Football 25 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [February 22, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957 "2024-02-22T18:59:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/1 "2024-02-22T19:00:00Z")
I didn’t see a thread for this, so I thought I would start one. Some early news, [according to ESPN](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39574788/players-opting-ea-sports-college-football-25-get-600): All 134 teams that are “full” FBS members (or will be in 2025), including Kennesaw State, will be included; however, there will be no FCS teams. There will be 85 players per team, which, not particularly coincidentally, is the maximum number of scholarship players each team can have. While there will be a method to create your own players, there will be some way for the game to reject attempts to add a player who “opted out” and was replaced by a “generic” player. The designers refused to go into details, presumably to make it harder for anyone to try and find a workaround. Each player who opts in will receive $600 plus a copy of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/2 "2024-02-22T21:45:51Z")
I’m gonna have to buy a PS5 for this thing. What a hard life I live. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/3 "2024-02-23T00:11:19Z")
It’s an interesting problem. Paying every player the same amount is almost certainly the only really practical approach. But you know that the big name QBs with 7 figure NIL deals will think they can hold out for more. I’m sure EA will avoid opening that can of worms. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/4 "2024-02-23T00:21:43Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > But you know that the big name QBs with 7 figure NIL deals will think they can hold out for more. I wonder if they can be convinced that the exposure is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/5 "2024-02-23T00:45:12Z")
That’s how I probably would approach it in their shoes, but I’m sure their agents will tell them to never do anything for free. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/6 "2024-02-23T08:56:15Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > I’m gonna have to buy a PS5 for this thing. What a hard life I live. Yeah, it’s disappointing that they’re skipping the PS4/XBox One generation with college football games. I may have to get a PS5 myself, for this _and_ for the NBA 2K games that have the legendary rosters. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/7 "2024-02-23T14:29:13Z")
I understand it’s a legal issue, but I never gave a shit about having real player names in the game. They’re all going to “graduate” and be out of the game in a couple of in-game seasons anyways, then you’re dealing with entirely computer-generated players from then on. As a gamer I’d be perfectly happy with real teams and entirely fake players. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/8 "2024-02-23T17:05:23Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > They’re all going to “graduate” and be out of the game in a couple of in-game seasons anyways, then you’re dealing with entirely computer-generated players from then on Wait, what? When a playet graduates they are removed from the game? If I play FIFA 2000 I’m pretty sure Beckham will still be with ManU, no? ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/9 "2024-02-23T17:13:10Z")
Think of it as a career mode, where you perform head coaching duties as well as playing the games themselves. Beckham may be with ManU in 2000, but when his contract runs out in 2006, he’s now playing for the LA Galaxy. Except in College Football, you get that rookie for three to five years, and there’s no signing them to a new contract. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/10 "2024-02-23T17:17:19Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Wait, what? When a playet graduates they are removed from the game? No, I mean the “digital” players will “graduate” and go play in Madden or get digital jobs inside the computer like in _Tron_ or _Wreck-It Ralph_ or something. Whatever they do, like IRL, there is a fairly short time limit on how long they can play college football. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/11 "2024-02-23T17:17:36Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > Beckham may be with ManU in 2000, but when his contract runs out in 2006, he’s now playing for the LA Galaxy. And that would be relevant if I bought FIFA 2006 where Beckham is with Real Madrid (not Galaxy quite yet); but even in 2024, Beckham is still in ManU in copies of FIFA 2000. > [@Chisquirrel](#): > > Except in College Football, you get that rookie for three to five years, and there’s no signing them to a new contract. My assumption would be that this is relevant if I buy EA Sports’ College Football 2030, not that players would disappear from existing copies of College Football 2025. ---
**Author:** ![opiewan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/opiewan/32/3566_2.png) [@opiewan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/opiewan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/12 "2024-02-23T17:27:20Z")
I believe @Chisquirrel was talking about ‘franchise mode’ within the game, where you play multiple seasons in a career mode. So you’re playing the 2024 game in franchise mode, but then you play through an entire year within the game and now it’s 2025 (in the game, not in real life). Some of the virtual players who were seniors have ‘graduated’ are now gone from the game (within this particular instance of franchise mode). New ‘freshmen’ who you have recruited have now been added to the game for the new 2025 season. Rinse and repeat, and after 3-5 years (again, within this particular franchise mode instance) your entire roster has turned over due to graduation. If you decide you don’t like this franchise mode and want to start over, when you start a new game the rosters are back to the default 2024 rosters. So in that case, it’s a lot like where you’re envisioning it where if in 2030 you load the game into your dusty PS5 you’re still going to start off with 2024 rosters. I believe the disconnect is that Chisquirrel is talking about virtual years within the game, not calendar years in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/13 "2024-02-23T17:33:40Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > No, I mean the “digital” players will “graduate” and go play in Madden or get digital jobs inside the computer like in _Tron_ or _Wreck-It Ralph_ or something. Whatever they do, like IRL, there is a fairly short time limit on how long they can play college football. Whenever I launch my copy of FIFA 2018 on the Switch, it is the World Cup, Iceland has qualified, Messi is playing for Argentina, etc. That will still be true in 2050. I don’t see why this would be different in college football. ---
**Author:** ![opiewan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/opiewan/32/3566_2.png) [@opiewan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/opiewan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/14 "2024-02-23T17:37:10Z")
If you popped in your copy of College Football 25 in 2050, and selected ‘Play Now’, you would set up a game between teams and have the same rosters you did back in 2025. That is the same as what you are envisioning. If instead of selecting “Play Now”, you selected “Franchise Mode”, or the equivalent, you get to simulate being a GM (or more accurately, a college athletic director) over the course of multiple seasons. In that mode, players leave and new players come in as the virtual years progress. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/15 "2024-02-23T17:37:12Z")
🙄 If you really need it spelled out: - You start a Franchise in EA Sports College Football 25. - You play 4 seasons. - All of the real players will have “graduated” and are now out of your game. - Every season in that franchise you play after that will be 100% computer-generated players. - The players are technically still in the game every time you re-start a Franchise or single season. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/16 "2024-02-23T17:37:23Z")
> [@opiewan](#): > > So you’re playing the 2024 game in franchise mode, but then you play through an entire year within the game and now it’s 2025 (in the game, not in real life). Some of the virtual players who were seniors have ‘graduated’ are now gone from the game (within this particular instance of franchise mode). New ‘freshmen’ who you have recruited have now been added to the game for the new 2025 season. > > Rinse and repeat, and after 3-5 years (again, within this particular franchise mode instance) your entire roster has turned over due to graduation. Gotcha! That makes sense, I understand. I don’t play FIFA in franchise mode much, just world cup brackets and single matches in multiplayer. So that didn’t occur to me as a concern, but that does make sense. ---
**Author:** ![opiewan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/opiewan/32/3566_2.png) [@opiewan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/opiewan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/17 "2024-02-23T17:39:17Z")
I guess the FIFA games are more geared towards WC bracket play, so I understand why it seemed strange. Most players excited about this new title are Madden players and most either play in Franchise mode and control a team over a decade or whatever, or play head to head online or the Madden Ultimate Team which I am not sure what that is but I think it’s their way to get you to buy extra digital stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/18 "2024-02-23T17:42:17Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > And that would be relevant if I bought FIFA 2006 where Beckham is with Real Madrid (not Galaxy quite yet); but even in 2024, Beckham is still in ManU in copies of FIFA 2000. If you play multiple seasons of a soccer video game eventually contracts you have will expire and players will move or they will transfer. New random players will be made to fill the holes made by retirements. But in a soccer game if you sim to 2030, you’ll probably recognize most roster names at the biggest teams. They may not have started at Man City, but simulated oil money still means they have the biggest names. In college football, there will be nearly 100% roster turnover in 5 years (minor exceptions for 2024 freshmen who had a major injury but keep playing). If you sim to 2030, you won’t know any of the names playing at Alabama because new recruiting classes have been generated by the game. > [@Babale](#): > > My assumption would be that this is relevant if I buy EA Sports’ College Football 2030, not that players would disappear from existing copies of College Football 2025. I’m still playing my NCAA14 game from 11 years ago. I can absolutely load up the rosters from the release season and play my games with “Texas A&M QB #2 - Absolutely not Johnny Manziel! We’d have to pay him for the rights and we can’t do that”. They don’t delete him from the files, but most people who play the game get years into the future, where Texas A&M QB#2 has been drafted and burned out in the NFL, gone to the CFL and flamed out there, then shown up on lots of podcasts talking about how he screwed up and wasted his talent. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ea-sports-college-football-25/997957/19 "2024-02-23T17:50:47Z")
> [@opiewan](#): > > I guess the FIFA games are more geared towards WC bracket play, so I understand why it seemed strange. I think FIFA players like me, who buy the World Cup editions every 4 years at best, are like that. The more hardcore FIFA fans definitely play league manager type games though, I should have thought of that!