College Football 25 is having a big moment on consoles, but like usual, EA decided PC gamers are an afterthought

GamesSportsCollege Football 25 is having a big moment on consoles, but like usual, EA decided PC gamers are an afterthoughtWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: EA)

ea sports college football 25

Something cool happened in the world of American sports this year: the NCAA, the organization that puts on college sports at the highest level and rakes in over a billion dollars a year doing it, settled on a deal that allows college athletes to be paid for their services—something that should’ve been happening all along. The deal is a huge win for student-athletes who previously destroyed their bodies for free, but it’s also a big deal for publisher EA, as it means it can finally go back to making college football games.

Unfortunately, you won’t find College Football 25 anywhere on PC. As far as we know, EA isn’t making a PC version this time around, and it’s not really clear why.

The PC snub is somewhat surprising, but not unbelievable given EA’s track record. Madden and the PC haven’t always gotten along: EA dropped Windows support entirely from 2008 - 2017, finally bringing it back to PC in 2018. Then for a stretch, up until last year’s Madden 24, the series had developed a habit of releasing thelast-genversions of its yearly games on PC. These are the versions that EA develops specifically for older consoles that oftenlack the new features introduced that year, and the decision to make them the only versions on PC understandably gave fans the impression that we were an afterthought for EA.

Madden 24 PCsnapped that streakand Madden 25 PC will keep us current next month, which makes it all the more disappointing that College Football 25 is completely absent on the largest gaming platform.

(Image credit: EA)

ea sports college football 25

Some fans have theorized that, after the whole player likeness rights kerfuffle, the potential for CF25 to be modded with unauthorized content scared EA away from a PC version, but there’s no evidence of that reasoning from EA.

Another possible explanation is simple: EA’s football games don’t sell all that well on PC. The Steam version of Madden 24 is rated “Mixed” with fewer than 7,000 user reviews, which doesn’t suggest the sort of monster sales that EA probably expects (perhaps those years of sub-par releases were a bad idea?). EA’s soccer game FC 24 (formerly FIFA) has 77,000 Steam reviews.

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It’s true that both Madden and NCAA have always been considered console series. The people in my life who play football games do more-or-less fit the stereotype of a console gamer who only buys sports games and Call of Duty. At the risk of drawing an erroneous connection between “football bros” and console gamers, maybe there’s something to the idea that football fans want their fix on the most accessible and affordable box they can get (consoles), and don’t think about it much beyond that.

Looking at those EA Sports College Football player counts… pic.twitter.com/1PfAlD8At0July 19, 2024

Some fans are still holding out hope that EA will randomly announce a late release of College Football 25 on Steam. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

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