It has been years since Electronic Arts took on a basketball simulation game. Specifically, the last time the company released a realistic basketball game was NBA Live 19, which wasn’t the worst iteration of the franchise, but didn’t spark enough interest for the series to continue. Before that, NCAA Basketball brought March Madness to video games, which hasn’t had an entry since 2009’s NCAA Basketball 10. However, it looks like EA is looking to bring the madness back to gaming, according to its latest tease.
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In a recent X (formerly Twitter) post from the official EA Sports account, they teased a new NCAA Basketball game. However, the post uses the hashtag “CBB” which seems to indicate the return to college hoops will probably be named EA Sports College Basketball. There really isn’t too much to go on from the post beyond that. The image shared is just a basketball with the EA Sports logo branded on the ball.
Although it may be a welcome surprise for fans of college basketball, EA’s return to March Madness comes after the success of EA Sports College Football 25. Not only was it a critical success, but it did incredibly well financially. According to review aggregate site Metacritic, the revival of the beloved football franchise garnered an average score of 83 and was the best-selling sports game of all time, according to Circana’s November 2024 report. Additionally, it is also one of the top 50 best-selling video games ever.
There is also the rising popularity of the actual sport to take into account. This year’s March Madness reached record viewership when it aired last March. Around 9.1 million viewers tuned into the tournament’s first round across the available networks. This was up 6%, with its primetime window seeing an average of 12.2 million viewers. The second round averaged 9.4 million viewers, which was the best viewership the tournament has seen since 1993.
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This increase in viewership also extends to Women’s basketball. While it’s not as high as the Men’s division, the Women’s March Madness tournament saw an increase in viewership compared to 2023. According to ESPN, the first round saw an average of 367,000 viewers across all networks, which is up 43% from 2023.
Now is as good a time as ever for EA to return to basketball. The NBA 2K franchise has seen some middling scores in the past few entries. The last time the franchise averaged an 80 or higher on Metacritic was 2018’s NBA 2K19. There is space for another realistic basketball game, and with the rising popularity of college basketball, this could be another sports gaming hit for EA if it can hit similar highs as College Football 25.
Are you excited for EA to make a return to college basketball? Would you pick this up over a new NBA 2K game? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below.