After 10 years away, EA’s college football video game series has returned with EA Sports College Football 25, and it seems like the game is off to a hot start.
The game launched on July 15 for people who bought the $100 deluxe edition or jumped in via the EA Play 10-hour trial, and more than 700,000 people were logged in concurrently right away. College Football 25 supports cross-play on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, so presumably this number includes players on both platforms.
Now there’s over 700,000 people online on College Football 25 pic.twitter.com/r1q5XRtd8E
— Bordeaux (@bordeauxyoutube) July 16, 2024
College Football 25 is exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and anecdotal evidence seems to point to the game helping lift console sales. One social media user pointed out there appears to be an uptick in Xbox Series S sales on Walmart, though whether or not this is connected to College Football 25’s release is unknown.
Yeeeah EA College Football is absolutely for sure, positively a console mover.
Xbox Series S is never touching +1000 today at Walmart otherwise, outside a price cut. Jumped from +100 yesterday to +1000 today. pic.twitter.com/IGRxxnlxSA
— John Welfare (@Welfare_JBP) July 16, 2024
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said he expects College Football 25 to be among the top 20 best-selling games of 2024 in the US, and potentially reach the top 10. He also predicted that College Football 25’s release will help drive an uptick in hardware sales in the US.
Growth in hardware sales in the US would be a welcome change for the industry. For May 2024, spending on video game hardware slumped by 40% compared to May 2023, dropping to $202 million. Spending on hardware year-to-date in the US is 30% lower than this time last year. Through May 2024, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch all displayed double-digit percent declines year-over-year, with the Switch being the biggest loser of the bunch with the most significant drop.
College Football 25 is available now through the $100 deluxe edition or via the 10-hour trial available to EA Play subscribers. The game launches for everyone else on July 19.
