{"id":270763,"date":"2025-09-06T23:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T23:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/270763\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T23:39:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T23:39:16","slug":"ea-reportedly-no-longer-moving-forward-with-college-basketball-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/270763\/","title":{"rendered":"EA Reportedly No Longer Moving Forward With College Basketball Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

EA Sports won’t be moving forward with its college basketball video game plans after all. Back in June, EA teased the revival of its college basketball video game series<\/a> after reports broke that the Colelge Licensing Company requested proposals from video game publishers to make a college basketball game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back,” EA Sports teased on social media this week with the hashtag “#CBB.” No official announcement was made, but many had interpreted EA’s tweet as confirmation that the sports publisher was already developing a college basketball game.<\/p>\n

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Bring the Madness. Let\u2019s run it back. #CBB<\/a> #ItsInTheGame<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/iBNhGxn2yj<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\u2014 EA SPORTS (@EASPORTS) June 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

As it turns out, EA wasn’t the only publisher to submit a bid. Take-Two, the parent company of 2K, publisher of the popular NBA 2K video game series, also submitted a bid.<\/p>\n

As detailed by Extra Points’ Matt Brown, 2K’s proposal was for “a non-exclusive license to produce a ‘5v5 tournament gameplay format integrated into NBA 2K MyTeam Mode via downloadable content (DLC).'”<\/p>\n

“2K would evaluate the viability of a standalone college basketball title, depending on the financial performance of college basketball DLC,” Brown reported.<\/p>\n

This came on the heels of Ben Portnoy’s own reporting through Sports Business Journal,<\/a> which claimed:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Discussions involving EA Sports, the Collegiate Licensing Company and the NCAA, among others, around a reboot of a college basketball franchise have hit a snag due to deals individual schools are weighing with rival video game publishing label 2K Sports for a separate product, multiple sources familiar with the talks told Sports Business Journal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fast forward to Wednesday evening, and Brown has now shared an official message sent from Sean O’Brien, EA Sports’ VP Commercial Partnerships & Licensing, to school and conference licensing directors. It reads:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Given there are some schools choosing to\u00a0accept the 2K Sports proposal for inclusion in NBA 2K, the offer to be included in a college basketball video game will unfortunately have to be rescinded.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

Everyone at EA SPORTS is disappointed that we all couldn\u2019t find an acceptable path forward, but we appreciate your support in trying to bring a stand-alone college basketball game with all men\u2019s and women\u2019s Division 1 institutions and student athletes, conferences as well as the NCAA, in a way that fans have told us they want.\u00a0 We really appreciate your support.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With EA officially rescinding its licensing offer, it now means 2K will be the sole maker of a college basketball video game. The publisher confirmed on social media that it’s currently working on a “college basketball experience that will feature more than 100 programs from across the country.”<\/p>\n

The fact that they referred to this as an experience and not a video game, leads us to believe that our first college basketball game will indeed be a form of DLC in\u00a0the\u00a0NBA 2K\u00a0series and not a full-fledged standalone title. 2K has promised “a few surprises” coming in early 2026 with “big plans” for 2027 and beyond.<\/p>\n