College football fans won’t have to wait another 11 years for the next edition of their sport’s video game. EA Sports on Thursday announced that College Football 26 will be released this summer in a social media post thanking fans and players.
We said this place would be full again – thanks to our players, athletes, and fans for filling the house with us.
Let’s keep that kick off energy going ‘til College Football 26 drops this summer 😉 pic.twitter.com/6lbfS1zAsd
— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) January 16, 2025
The announcement of the game’s new edition is not a surprise, as College Football 25 was a huge hit. The first college football game from EA Sports since 2012 became the highest-selling sports video game of all time in total dollars, according to analytics company Circana, surpassing NBA 2K21. (EA Sports has not released or commented on the game’s official financials.)
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The timing of this announcement is in line with the previous iteration of the game. Before EA Sports stopped production of new NCAA Football games after 2013 due to legal issues surrounding NCAA name, image and likeness rules, EA Sports would typically announce the next game around the national championship, with a July release date. Last year’s cover athletes — Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Texas’ Quinn Ewers and Michigan’s Donovan Edwards — were revealed in May. New editions of the game, including CFB 25, have always been released in July. This year’s timeline will likely be similar.
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Alongside its financial success, CFB 25 was well-received in the video game community, earning ratings of 80 (XBox) and 83 (PS5) out of 100 by Metacritic. Video game publication IGN gave it a 7 out of 10. Both were higher than the outlets’ ratings for Madden 25. CFB 25 has also undergone plenty of game updates since its launch, adding new uniforms, playbooks and player names, fixing bugs and more.
EA Sports has been working on the 2026 game since before the 2025 game even finished. There were so many 3D assets to rebuild for the game’s relaunch, like stadiums, player faces and more, that certain game aspects were not started or completed in time for the summer of 2024. Game developers told The Athletic last year that modes like Mascot Mode or Road to Glory’s high school play, which were not in CFB 25, could return in future games.
It’s not yet clear what will be new for CFB 26, but it will be coming this summer, on a schedule familiar to franchise fans.
(Top photo courtesy of EA Sports)
Chris Vannini covers national college football issues and the coaching carousel for The Athletic. A co-winner of the FWAA’s Beat Writer of the Year Award in 2018, he previously was managing editor of CoachingSearch.com. Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisVannini
