CFB analyst heaps praise on EA Sports College Football 25 game designers: "Absolute college football sicko nerds" 

The announcement of the June 19 release of the EA Sports College Football 25 game has been enthusiastically received by college football fans across the country and all over the world. The game is making a comeback after an 11-year hiatus after running into legal problems.

The new game's graphics, including various game modes, have been praised widely after trailers dropped a few weeks ago. College football analyst Bud Elliott reiterated the quality of the game experience during an appearance on the "CBS Sports College Football Show" on Wednesday.

"I think the biggest thing that I took away from this is that this is not Madden reskinned," Elliott said. "They didn't pull a couple of guys off other video game teams from other sports. The dudes making this game are like absolute college football sicko nerds.

"The stuff that they thought to put in here, it's just straight dubs. The schools were really in on this. Regardless of which team you're playing with, I think they did a great job of nailing your traditions."

How EA Sports College Football 25 made a comeback with authentic designs

The idea to reboot the EA Sports College Football 25 game came from the senior vice president and group general manager of EA Sports, Daryl Holt, in 2019 as he made the pitch to the EA Sports president, Cam Weber.

The development staff, including designers for the game, were recalled and the game's comeback was announced in 2021, and it has taken three years for the game to be brought back to the market.

The franchise had to navigate the new NIL regulations and the building of a solid foundation for the game including testing and implementing new designs.

One of the most important figures in that process was EA Sports designer Ben Haumiller. He played in a tournament that was searching for the best college football video game player in the country in 1999, perhaps echoing CBS Sports analyst Bud Elliott, who said that the graphics can only have been designed by a very knowledgeable team.

Haumiller became the principal game designer for the new game after getting the green light to finally come up with a new generation game.

The process was long and thorough, with a database to keep track of all the authentic ticks that made the various programs featured in the college football game unique, from mascots to team traditions.

The team had to use new technologies to build the images of the players and the stadiums, and Daryl Holt said that it was the greatest masterpiece of his career once done.

"I would definitely put it, in terms of my 20 years with EA Sports, as one of those big achievement moments," Holt said. "In terms of saying how do we not let scale or let a problem deter, derail or stop us? That's the key for this team is they didn't take no for an answer."

The team also contracted famous voices to do the announcing on the game, and personalities like Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler were among those chosen putting in over two years of voiceovers to make the college football game perfect.