EA Sports recently announced the release date forCollege Football 26, firmly establishing theCollege Footballgames as a new annual franchise. This shouldn’t be a huge surprise given the success ofCollege Football 25, but I’ll leave it up to you if another annual sports franchise is something you’re excited about or not. Either way, it will be hard forCollege Football 26to muster up the same enthusiasm that there was for last year’s game.
College Football 25was thefirst college football game in over a decade, so there was a massive level of excitement surrounding it. WhileCollege Football 26is less novel, that doesn’t mean it won’t also be an exciting release. While there aren’t many details yet, advertising teases at least one feature that would makeCollege Football 26a novel experience if it’s included. College football rosters also turn over more regularly, meaning there ismore room for new exciting talent inCollege Football 26than inMadden NFL 26, where many of the players will remain the same.
College Football 26 Release Date & Pre-Orders
College Football 26 Will Be Released On June 17, 2025
EA Sports just announced thatCollege Football 26will be available June 10, 2025. This is just about a week earlier thanCollege Football 25came out, and gives us a good indication of the release window we can expect from future games. If you want to play even earlier, there is an option to get three extra days of Early Access which would presumably start on August 07, 2025, though no official start time has been given yet.
If you want to know down to the minute when you can start playingCollege Football 26, EA Sports sees you, and they have you covered. According to theirwebsite,College Football 26officially drops at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. That said, not all players are going to get to hit the field right away depending on how they play games. IfCollege Football 25is any indication, the game might not ever come out on certain platforms.
College Football 26 Editions & Prices
College Football 26 Starts At $69.99 For The Standard Edition
College Football 25will be released on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S at a starting price of $69.99for the Standard Edition. There is also a Deluxe Edition of the game that costs $99.99 on its own, or you can get it bundled with the Deluxe Edition ofMadden NFL 26for $149.99. With both Deluxe Editions costing $99.99 on their own, the bundle may seem like a steal, but that’s only assuming you are planning to buy both individually. If, for example, you wanted to buy both Standard Editions, you would end up saving about $20.
Deciding which option is right for you comes down towhether you think the added content in the Deluxe Edition and the Bundle are worth a significant price hike. The Deluxe Edition ofCollege Football 26comes with three days of early access, some skill points, and some Ultimate Team packs. You can see the full list of add-ons below:
Right off the bat, I’ll say that the Deluxe Edition is only worth it if you’re planning to play a decent amount ofUltimate Team mode, asmost of the added value comes from the 4600 CUT Points. That said, even if you do play Ultimate Team, you can still decide to buy this in-game currency later for about the same rate. This is essentially the case for the Bundle, as its only unique item is an Ultimate Team Elite Player Item.
The value of getting three days' early access is a bit nebulousto me. I understand the urge to want to play a new game as soon as possible, but at the same time, it’s hard to justify the extra cost after those three days are up. It’s also worth noting that, if early access is exactly three days before launch, it will start in the middle of the day on a Monday. Younger players on summer break can take advantage of this, but anyone who’s working likely isn’t going to get much out of these extra few days.
As far as different consoles,as of now there is no word of a PC version or Switch 2 version ofCollege Football 26. It also looks like it will be exclusive to current-gen systems, similar toCollege Football 25. No PC version of the last game ever came out, so it’s probably safe to assume this year’s model will follow suit.
College Football 26 Gameplay Details
College Football 26 Will Likely Have All The Same Modes As College Football 25
Based on the skill points available in the Deluxe Edition ofCollege Football 26, we can expect to see the return ofRoad to Glory mode, Dynasty mode, and Ultimate Team mode. As per usual, you will also just be able to play quick casual games that aren’t part of any dedicated mode. As of now,there haven’t been any announcements about major changes to the existing game modes, so I would expect them to stay relatively the same unless we hear otherwise.
One interesting thing that I noticed is that some of EA Sports' advertising for the game focuses on the idea ofexperiencing your football career “from high school recruit, to NFL Legend.“This means at the very least thatCollege Football 26will include some high school games in Road To Glory, similar toNBA 2K25’s MyCareer mode. The idea of continuing all the way to the NFL almost seems to hint at some interaction withMadden NFL 26, which would be awesome if it were the case, but most likely it’s not a literal feature, just a catchy slogan.
We’ll have to wait for more details about bothCollege Football 26andMadden NFL 26to see if there is any more to this than an advertising hook. I would love to be optimistic and say that I think it’s likely, but I’m guessing the games will stay largely independent. Although I’m not as excited aboutCollege Football 26as last year’s game, I’ll be interested to see if EA Sports adds any exciting new features, or rests on their laurels. At the very least, maybe we can get some more mascots for new schools.
