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Just days before its second college football title release in over a decade, EA Sports just announced it's getting back into the college basketball world too.
The successful return of the NCAA College Football franchise, now called EA Sports College Football, prompted calls from the sports video gaming community to bring back the college hoops franchise. However, fans of both franchises knew that the last NCAA March Madness title sold just over 150,000 units, compared to 1.5 million copies of NCAA Football 14 being sold. Blake Griffin was the last cover athlete for the series, which died in 2010.
A lot has changed in the basketball video game space since then, though. EA Sports lost the NBA title war to 2K, largely due to the innovations made to the MyPlayer mode and online play, only for the victor to grow stale and leave fans wanting more. The plague of micro-transactions that has taken over the sports video game genre has also hurt the NBA 2K series.
Ironically enough, EA Sports, which is known for abusing micro-transactions in most sports games under its label, got a pass from the community despite implementing the same pay-to-win system in its Ultimate Team mode. That's because the outcry for a return of the beloved franchise mode silenced most of the critics. If everyone is happy, no one is complaining.
There isn't the same nostalgic affinity for the March Madness series, but college basketball fans are going to check out the game regardless. Whether it has the same longevity as the newly revitalized football series remains to be seen. A robust recruiting system upgrade is needed and a dynamic MyCareer mode, where players can create a player, be recruited and play through a college basketball career, is also on most wishlists.
While there is limited information on the game, updates should come after the launch of the NCAA Football 26 game in early July.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: NCAA basketball EA Sports reviving March Madness college hoops series
Continue reading...
The successful return of the NCAA College Football franchise, now called EA Sports College Football, prompted calls from the sports video gaming community to bring back the college hoops franchise. However, fans of both franchises knew that the last NCAA March Madness title sold just over 150,000 units, compared to 1.5 million copies of NCAA Football 14 being sold. Blake Griffin was the last cover athlete for the series, which died in 2010.
A lot has changed in the basketball video game space since then, though. EA Sports lost the NBA title war to 2K, largely due to the innovations made to the MyPlayer mode and online play, only for the victor to grow stale and leave fans wanting more. The plague of micro-transactions that has taken over the sports video game genre has also hurt the NBA 2K series.
Ironically enough, EA Sports, which is known for abusing micro-transactions in most sports games under its label, got a pass from the community despite implementing the same pay-to-win system in its Ultimate Team mode. That's because the outcry for a return of the beloved franchise mode silenced most of the critics. If everyone is happy, no one is complaining.
There isn't the same nostalgic affinity for the March Madness series, but college basketball fans are going to check out the game regardless. Whether it has the same longevity as the newly revitalized football series remains to be seen. A robust recruiting system upgrade is needed and a dynamic MyCareer mode, where players can create a player, be recruited and play through a college basketball career, is also on most wishlists.
While there is limited information on the game, updates should come after the launch of the NCAA Football 26 game in early July.
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: NCAA basketball EA Sports reviving March Madness college hoops series
Continue reading...
