College Football 25 Will Have Inaccuracies At Launch, EA Says

As a hardcore gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I’ve seen my fair share of game launches, and let me tell you, EA Sports College Football 25‘s early access launch has been an interesting ride so far. The hype was real, the anticipation palpable, and the community buzzing with excitement for this long-awaited return to the gridiron. But alas, as with many game launches, especially those involving complex licensing agreements and massive amounts of data, there have been some hiccups.

EA Sports College Football 25, set to be a major release in 2024, goes live this week with some hiccups, according to its developer. The game became available for early access on July 15, but players have reported various issues, including incorrect player likenesses and other aspects of the game. EA assures fans that these problems will be addressed.

In a recent blog update, EA Sports acknowledged that there may be minor discrepancies when the game is first released regarding player likenesses and other aspects. This is due in part to the fact that as recently as February, EA sealed Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements with college athletes for the game. Since then, EA has generated countless player likenesses and dealt with an immense amount of reference materials sent by the 134+ participating FBS schools.

As a gamer, I’ve noticed that some schools like Stanford, Western Michigan, and Jacksonville State may appear outdated in logos within the game, and unfortunately, a small group of players might have missing or incorrect likenesses at first. EA acknowledged this issue and promised to work diligently to address these concerns as soon as possible.

Approximately 11,390 authentic College Football 25 players are included in the game, accompanied by approximately 5,000 character models for coaches, fans, and custom-made players. In total, over 16,000 character models are available. Manually creating these characters for the game was deemed impractical by EA.

EA employed machine learning techniques instead, feeding the system “large numbers” of diverse head shapes, hairstyles, skin tones, and facial features including beards and brows. With this data plus a reference image of the specific athlete or coach, EA claimed to generate authentic player likenesses for their game.

EA announced that the TeamBuilder feature in FIFA will not be accessible during the initial release. However, this mode is planned to be rolled out at a later stage. Similar to other EA sports titles, the game will receive frequent updates, which will introduce new functions, along with bug fixes and enhancements.

I’m an avid football fan, and I can’t contain my excitement as College Football 25 is now accessible to a select few! For those with deeper pockets, the deluxe edition priced at $100 is ready for purchase. But if you’re like me, on a tighter budget, EA Play subscribers have the luxury of trying it out for an entire 10 hours before its official launch for everyone else on July 19. I remember the anticipation and joy of getting my hands on the latest football game early, and this opportunity feels like a dream come true! Let’s hit the gridiron and experience the thrill of college football like never before!

Approximately 619,000 users were active simultaneously on College Football 25 on July 15, as indicated by the game’s internal player tracker. Kicking off EA’s annual sports game releases, College Football 25 preceded Madden NFL 25 in August and FIFA 25 in September, with NHL 25 anticipated to follow in October. EA’s sports titles consistently attract a large fan base and generate revenue beyond the initial sale price through their successful Ultimate Team features.

For more, check out GameSpot’s College Football 25 preorder guide.

2024-07-16 16:40

College Football 25 Will Have Inaccuracies At Launch, EA Says

Read More

Minority Mindset