EA Sports College Football 2025 coming this summer. See release date, OSU players and more
The wait is finally over.
There will be a college football video game for the first time in 11 years when EA Sports College Football 2025 comes out this summer.
The full, nearly two-minute official trailer for this year's installment premiered last week across numerous social media platforms.
The last installment in the franchise came back in 2013 with the release of NCAA Football 14 before the college football season. The PlayStation 3 was the best-selling console that year, the Xbox 360 came in second and the PS4 was brand new, according to The Motley Fool.
With such a wide gap between releases, there will be a vast difference in the latest game -- including enhanced graphics on the latest generation consoles and the ability to use the actual names, players and likenesses (NIL) in the game -- whereas in previous iterations had only the player's number on the front and back of the jersey.
Leading up to the highly anticipated video game, EA Sports shared that all 134 FBS schools will be featured and 10,000 athletes are already confirmed to be in the game back in early March.
Several Ohio State stars are among the players featured in the game (more on that below).
More: See the Ohio State trailer for new EA Sports College Football video game
When does NCAA Football 25 come out?
The game will be available worldwide on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on July 19.
That mid-July release date marks nearly 11 years to the day of NCAA Football 14, which made its debut on July 9, 2013.
Why did the release of NCAA Football 25 take so long?
Game developers took a hiatus to assure football players of their compensation, Fox Sports reports.
For the first time, this game will cover NIL (name, image, likeness), an NCAA policy change, which allows college athletes to be compensated for their name and appearance in a video game.
This policy allows players to opt in or out of college games. Every player featured in NCAA Football 25 will receive $600 and a copy of the game, an EA Spokesperson told ESPN.
More: What does the term NIL mean and why is it so important to college sports?
Ohio State trio among featured college football players on NCAA Football 25
Excited to play as your favorite quarterback or wide receiver? Thanks to the NIL rules, now you can.
The list of included players includes at least three notable Ohio State stars — Denzel Burke, Caleb Downs and new transfer Quinshon Judkins — as well as 2023 Heisman Trophy finalists Jaden Milroe (Alabama) and Ollie Gordon II (Oklahoma State).
Here's a list of just a few football stars who will be joining the video game as themselves, according to Fox Sports:
Texas QB Quinn Ewers
Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter
Ohio State CB Denzel Burke
Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins
Ohio State S Caleb Downs
Michigan DB Will Johnson
Michigan RB Donovan Edwards
Alabama QB Jalen Milroe
Alabama DB Malachi Moore
Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles
USC WR/KR Zachariah Branch
Penn State RB Nick Singleton
Georgia QB Carson Beck
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart
Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon II
Penn State WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith
Washington QB Will Rogers
Michigan QB Alex Orji
Florida QB Graham Mertz
Missouri QB Brady Cook
Clemson QB Cade Klubnik
LSU QB Garrett Nussmeyer
UCLA QB Ethan Garbers
Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard
Illinois QB Luke Altmeyer
Maryland QB Billy Edwards Jr.
Wisconsin QB Tyler Van Dyke
Kansas QB Jalon Daniels
Kansas State QB Avery Johnson
Arizona QB Noah Fifita
Buckeyes dragged? Did EA Sports troll Ohio State with College Football 25 trailer?
Fan reactions to trailer for EA Sports College Football 2025
While the teaser trailer got fans ecstatic back in mid-February (30.4 million views on 'X,' formerly known as Twitter), the official trailer debut on May 17 (15.7 million views on 'X' in just three days), sent fans into a frenzy.
Here are some of the best reactions from social media for EA Sports College Football 2025:
5-Wide Empty 🏈 I’ve missed you 😩 pic.twitter.com/CFNLuPG3dk
— Seasoned HEEL (@HOLLYWOODGHEE_) May 17, 2024
I'm ready to run through a brick wall to play this game
— Zealand (@theoldzealand) May 17, 2024
I’ve been waiting 10 years for this moment
— Zachary Hall (@WxZachary) May 17, 2024
GAME OF THE YEAR INCOMING
— dom (@dxmers) May 17, 2024
YOOO THIS IS FIRE
— ¹³ (@LandOfPG) May 17, 2024
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: EA Sports College Football 2025 returns, play as Ohio State stars