EA Sports signed 10K+ College Football 25 players in eight days, achieving 87% of the game’s goal

Mere days after announcing the player opt-in program for College Football 25, Electronics Arts has announced the majority of college players are in. The news comes after the highly anticipated title arrival after a decade-long break.

EA College Football 25 is set to feature all 134 FSB teams. The developer looks to have all players opt into the game before its big reveal in May.

EA Sports revealed 10K+ athletes have signed for College Football 25

Electronic Arts has revealed more than 10,000 players have opted in to have their NIL used for College Football 25. This is more than 87% of the target set by the developer. It took only one week for the players registration to hit this mark.

Players who have opted in will receive $600 and a free copy of the game. Players only need a valid school email address to sign up for the program. Even players not part of scholarships can opt-in and get their avatar created for the game. EA is working with all the schools to ensure any player who appears on the team roster makes it to the game.

This is likely the ‘highest spending’ program put in place to recruit this large number of athletes, according to EA Vice President Sean O’Brien. This ensures that players will be compensated for the first time in the history of college football games.

Many stars are already on board, including Travis Hunter, Quinn Ewers, and Carson Beck. More players are expected to sign up as the game releases later this year.

College Football 25: Can manual athletes who declined NIL opt-in be added?

EA is taking players’ NIL pretty seriously. If any players did not opt in for College Football 25, gamers cannot create them in the game. There will be a system in place that will prevent this. One can only create avatars for players that are in the game database.

Previously, the NCAA was hit with an anti-trust lawsuit following the release of NCAA Football 13. Back then, players were not paid for their names and likenesses to be used in the game. Following a rule change in 2021, EA was allowed to compensate the players for using their NIL. Later that year, it was announced that a new college football game was in the works.

EA College Football 25 does not have a release date as of now. A full-reveal trailer is expected to drop in April 2024.