Electronic Arts is doubling down on collegiate sports, teasing the return of EA Sports’ college basketball series after more than 15 years on ice. On Monday, the official EA Sports social media account posted “Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back.” but also offered little in the way of concrete details.
EA may be trying to replicate the success of last year’s EA Sports College Football 25, which was reportedly the biggest-selling sports video game in U.S. history in terms of dollar sales, according to sales tracking company Circana. This year’s entry, EA Sports College Football 26, is slated for release on July 10.
There hasn’t been a new EA Sports-developed college basketball game since NCAA Basketball 10, which was released in November 2009. EA’s NCAA Basketball series, previously known as NCAA March Madness, ran from 1997 to 2009. Based on EA’s handling of college football, don’t expect the NCAA or March Madness branding to return to the game’s title. EA Sports College Basketball sounds about right.
EA’s been out of the basketball game, both professional and at the college level, since 2018. In 2019, EA canceled the in-development NBA Live 20, the fourth such cancellation for that basketball franchise and its end at EA Sports. Since then, 2K Sports’ NBA 2K franchise has served as the de facto dominant basketball sports simulation.
Polygon has reached out to Electronic Arts for additional details on its college basketball plans and will update when the company responds.