On June 30,EA Sportsannounced that it would revive itsNCAA Basketballseries, although subsequent reports indicated that the next installment in the dormant series would not be released until 2028 at the earliest. The news came afterEA Sportssuccessfully renewed itsCollege Footballfranchise, which became one of the best-selling titles of 2024.
From 1998 to 2009, EA Sports released annual installments of itsNCAA Basketballseries, also known until 2008 asNCAA March Madness. Much like itsNCAA Footballcounterpart, theNCAA Basketballfranchise featured teams from across NCAA Division I, from large programs like Duke and Kansas to smaller schools like Gonzaga. TheNCAA Basketballvideo game series was discontinued in 2009 due to low sales. However, that has not stopped fans of college sports from supporting new game releases, asEA Sports College Football 25went on to become the second-best-selling game of 2024on all major platforms, trailing onlyCall of Duty: Black Ops 6.
With college sports simulators making a comeback following a 2021 Supreme Court caseinvolving the use of an athlete’s name, image, and likeness (NIL), EA Sports gave fans some confirmation of its plans. Following EA Sports' social media posts that it was rebooting theNCAA Basketballseries, areport from Matt Brown of Extra Points(which wascorroborated by Chris Vannini of The Athletic) stated that the success ofCollege Football 25spurred EA to pursue a revival of itsNCAA Basketballseries. A memo was sent out by the College Licensing Company (CLC) on June 26 to various college conferences. According to the CLC’s memo, the company recommended that the college conferences accept EA Sports' proposal for a college basketball game project, which is targeted to launch in 2028 at the earliest. A source confirmed in Brown’s report that theNCAA Basketballgame project would include a total of 730 teams across NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball programs.
EA Sports Is Bringing Back Its NCAA Basketball Franchise
As for EA Sports' current plans, the imminent arrival ofCollege Football 26will pick up where last year’s revival left off. Withnew features coming toCollege Football 26, including improved play-calling, dynamic substitutions, and more diverse blocking and coverage systems to choose from, fans looking to experience the thrills of a virtual college stadium will have different forms of content to enjoy.
While theNCAA Basketballseries can beconsidered a retro basketball franchisedue to the gap in releases, fans will not have to wait much longer to hit the college courts once more. It remains to be seen when EA Sports will reveal more information.
