The $100 version of EA Sports College Football 25 was worth it for EA, with 2.2 million early access players

The revival of Electronic Arts’ college football series has already gotten off to an incredibly impressive start. The publisher announced on Friday that EA Sport College Football 25which officially launched on Friday, has more than 2.8 million players, 2.2 million of whom paid to play the sports simulation in early access.

The $99.99 Deluxe Edition EA Sport College Football 25 offered three days of early access, which led to a huge install base long before the game officially launched. EA said in a press release that another 600,000 players got their hands on College Football 25 via EA Play, which offers early trials of select Electronic Arts titles.

In addition to the deluxe stand-alone version of College Football 25EA is also selling a $149.99 MVP bundle that includes the deluxe editions of EA Sport College Football 25 And Madden NFL 25as well as other in-game benefits such as virtual currency. That’s an attractive offer for soccer fans, who would already spend around $140 if they bought the games separately.

On Tuesday, when the early access period for EA Sport College Football 25 began, in-game statistics showed that there were over 700,000 players online at the same time. On Friday, hours after the game officially launched, concurrent player counts were around 550,000.

According to data from research firm Circana (formerly NPD), EA Sport College Football 25 Ranked #3 in U.S. daily active users on Xbox (behind Call of Duty HQ and Fortnite), and #4 on PlayStation 5 (behind COD, FortniteAnd Grand Theft Auto 5), during the early access period, said executive director and video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella.

Expectation for EA Sport College Football 25 has of course been high, as Electronic Arts has not released an American football game since 2013, when the company launched the game. NCAA Football 14.

Fortunately for college football video game fans, EA’s return to space has not only been a commercial success, but also a critical one. Polygon’s review, from critic Matt Brown, says EA Sport College Football 25 was “worth the wait.”

“(EA Sport College Football 25) is also very clearly a labor of love from developers who care deeply about college football and college football culture,” Brown wrote. “It’s a testament to what’s possible with sports games when teams have more than a few months to win AAA titles. And if this is the foundation for future college football games, the series is in a very, very good position.”

EA Sport College Football 25 is now available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.