"The game has been elite", "Not surprising": Fans react as EA Sports College Football 25 tops global video game sales in 2024

The return of EA Sports College Football 25 was one of the biggest news stories in the gaming world in 2024. After a hiatus of more than a decade, EA Sports decided to relaunch the game, leveraging the introduction of name, image and likeness to the world of collegiate athletics.

As per data from research and analytics company Circana, the game has earned a spot among the top 50 best-selling tracked video games of all time. It is also the best-selling game of 2024, despite Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 dominating sales charts over the past two months.

The news has generated a lot of reactions among college football fans who have had fun playing the game this year. There was a lot of anticipation for the return of the game for several years and the reaction to the relaunch was massive. Here’s a look at some of the reactions:

"This game has been elite"

"Not surprising at all"

Other reactions to the game's milestone include:

"Well deserved and should win game of the year!" a fan wrote.

"Yeah I’m addicted to this game ngl," another fan wrote.

"Now imagine if they put it on PC," a fan commented.

"Good - do college basketball again," another fan commented.

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College Football 25 was a dark horse in the 2024 releases

While the return of a college football video game was widely anticipated among fans, there was uncertainty regarding the potential market reaction to the release. Having been out of the market for quite a long time, It wasn’t easy to forecast what its sales numbers would look like.

Stephen Totilo, author of the “Game File” newsletter, noted that College Football 25 was a dark horse to dominate the 2024 video game sales market. Its unexpected rise to the top highlights the widespread appeal of the game and the strong fanbase behind the franchise.

“It was reasonable to assume that the EA College Football return would do well, but it’s a big surprise that it’s done as well as it has,” Totilo told Front Office Sports. “For it to be the top game of the year so far in the U.S. is pretty stunning.”

“You don’t see that kind of performance from sports games. They rank high, but they typically can’t knock off a Call of Duty or a Grand Theft Auto, or something like that. The days of Madden being the number-one game in America every year seemingly have long past.”

The impressive sales figures of College Football 25 hold little financial significance for the players featured in the game. Through licensing deals negotiated by OneTeam Partners, participating athletes received a one-time payment of $600 and a copy of the game.

Released on the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox X/S series, the standard copy of College Football 25 is priced at $69.99 while the deluxe version retailed at $99.99. For dedicated fans seeking the premium experience, the MVP edition was made available for $149.99.