Players set to opt into College Football 26 will be paid much more handsomely than those who opted into the initial return of the game last season.
In 2024, players who opted into College Football 25 were awarded with $600 in name, image, and likeness payments, but this time around, they’ll make almost three times that much.
According to The Athletic, an email from EA Sports to FBS players on Tuesday afternoon informed players who opt into this year’s games that they will be compensated $1,500 for their inclusion.
The game was wildly successful, becoming the best-selling sports video game of all time in total dollars, according to Circana, and after an 11-year hiatus, it brought college football fans back together online unlike we’ve ever seen before.
“It outperformed all our expectations,” EA Sports senior vice president Daryl Holt said. “It’s become part of the cultural landscape of college football this year. It was exciting and fun and amazing to see. The title became the belle of the ball (within EA).”
There was so much excitement for the game, and overall, it lived up to the expectations. CFB25 scored a 7/10 on IGN and an 83 out of 100 on Metacritic, but just with a few tweaks, CFB26 could be something truly special.
“We went into it knowing there was a lot of stuff we couldn’t get into the first year,” Holt said. “So there’s a lot of meat left on the bone.”
The new game will release this summer ahead of the 2025 season, as has been the case with every other prior edition of the series.
