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It’s been 15 years since the release of the most recent college basketball video game thanks to EA Sports’ decision to discontinue a franchise that began at the end of the 1990s. However, the company (and a competitor) are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing that virtual sport back from the dead.
There were some college basketball video games released for O.G. consoles like the Sega Genesis and Super NES, but I assume most people reading this are much more familiar with the NCAA Basketball franchise that was initially branded as NCAA March Madness when EA Sports first got in on the action in 1998 with the Playstation title that featured Tim Duncan on the cover.
The series was never able to garner the following (or sales) of the NCAA Football franchise, and it was released on an annual basis for 13 years before the company opted to pull the plug a few years before the Supreme Court ruling that forced it to do the same for the latter.
This year, the developer cleaned up thanks to the release of College Football 25, which was not only the best-selling video game to come out in 2024 but the highest-grossing sports video game of all time.
It would appear the success of that title has led to EA Sports—and longtime rival 2K—taking a closer look at the feasibility of a college basketball video game, as Mike Straw of Insider Gaming cites sources who say both companies are currently toying around with the idea.
Multiple sources have told me that both EA and Take Two (2K) have had continued internal conversations about a college basketball game.
Unknown how far along talks are, but there are groups within both companies pushing heavily for it.
— Mike Straw of Insider-Gaming.com/TWSN.net (@MikeStrawMedia) December 19, 2024
2K did have a college basketball franchise of its own with College Hoops, which debuted in 2002 (the first game was released under the NCAA College Basketball moniker) but was discontinued after the final installment dropped in 2007.
It seems like a pretty natural transition for a company that has a wildly successful NBA video games series, and while EA Sports has cornered the market on the football front, it’s been absent from the basketball space since the NBA Live series came to an end after the final game dropped in 2019.
It’ll likely be a few years before a college basketball video game drops if either of the brands opt to pull the trigger, but it’s certainly an intriguing development.