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EA Sports College Football is only three games into its revival, but sources close to its development are already raising serious concerns about whether the franchise can survive the decade. An exclusive report from Insider Gaming, published today and citing multiple sources, including several described as senior-level around the game, paints a picture of a franchise caught between rising costs and declining sales momentum.
The financial strain begins with NIL payments. When College Football 25 launched in 2024 as the series’ triumphant return, EA paid each of the 11,000-plus participating players $600, totalling roughly $7 to $7.5 million in NIL costs. By College Football 27, that figure had already jumped to $1,500 per player, pushing total NIL spend to just under $20 million. Sources told Insider Gaming that the rate could climb to $30 to $40 million annually within a few years if the current trajectory continues.
Combined with university licensing fees, development, and marketing costs running into tens of millions more, the economics of the franchise are becoming increasingly strained. Sales, meanwhile, have been declining: College Football 25 remained in the US top 10 until February 2025, College Football 26 dropped out in December 2025, and College Football 27 lasted just one month as a standalone title before falling off the chart.
The monetisation picture is also worsening. College Football 27 launched with microtransactions in Dynasty and Road to Glory modes, a decision that generated significant community backlash before EA reversed course. According to the sources, those microtransactions are coming back in future entries regardless. One source was blunt about the reasoning: “Ultimate Team flopped for us. It’s still bringing in money, but far below expectations.”
Another puts the stakes plainly: “Forget in 10 years; I’m scared about if we have a game by the end of the decade. Games aren’t getting cheaper to make, and there’s the real concern with all of us that EA’s going to streamline and just have a few key franchises and dump everything else.” Not all sources shared that pessimism: some described the concern as overblown and said EA “knows what we have with this franchise.” EA did not respond to requests for comment on the story.
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