After a decade without a college football video game, it is finally happening. This summer we will be getting EA Sports College Football 25. However, the game will look slightly different this time around. Starting Thursday, Feb. 22 players will have the opportunity to opt into the game. Opting in will allow EA Sports to use players’ names images and likenesses in their college football game.

This is a first in the franchise’s history as previous versions would simply use a position and jersey number instead of players’ names and images. Of course, if you are a fan of the old NCAA Football games you know most people would download rosters with actual names of the corresponding players.

Gone are the days of needing to download a separate roster. Instead, players who opt into the game will have their names featured on the roster. They however will not use their images for at least the first year. EA Sports will work hand in hand with schools to recreate an accurate portrayal of players on their rosters.

EA Sports will be giving student-athletes $600 and a free copy of the game (typically a $60-$70 value) as payment for those who decide to opt in. These players will continue to be paid annually for the length of their collegiate career as long as they choose to remain in the game. However, players have the option to opt out of any future editions.

While the EA Sports College Football 25 will not include any FCS schools at its launch. It will include all 134 FBS schools. The final holdout Notre Dame announced Tuesday, Feb. 20 that they would indeed be included in the game. These 134 teams will have rosters of up to 85 players. This means that EA Sports will be paying out over 11,000 student-athletes for their name, image, and likeness.

EA Sports vice president of business development Sean O’Brien had this to say about the deal, “We feel very proud that we’ll be the largest program, likely the highest spending program”…. “And really an inclusive opportunity with an equitable distribution of funds across the board”. While Cory Moss, the CEO of the Collegiate Licensing Company stated, “There’s nothing been done on the scale that EA is doing, where every student-athlete that participates in the game is guaranteed revenue”.

The process for opting in will be pretty simple. Players with official email addresses at their respective universities will receive an email regarding an opt-in notice. EA Sports will then need to verify with the school that said player is in fact on their roster. Once completed the player will be added to the EA Sports College Football 25 game.

In the case of a player deciding not to opt in, EA Sports has a plan to create generic avatars to fill those spots. Daryl Holt, who is EA Sports’ senior vice president said their goal in this case is to, “Make sure the program still represents the integrity and strength of how that team plays and what the program has done over the past recent history”. EA Sports will use data collected over the previous decade to accomplish this.

One of the last questions that remains now is who will grace the cover of EA Sports College Football 25? Many ideas and theories have been thrown around on this topic. No official decision has been announced as to who it will be.

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