After the tremendous success of EA Sports College Football last year, many fans wanted to see something similar created for NCAA basketball.
College Football 26 returned this season with fun new features. The creator of the game, EA Sports, reportedly made a push earlier this year to create a standalone video game for men’s and women’s college hoops. EA Sports had previously created NCAA Basketball (previously March Madness) from 1998 until 2009.
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It gained momentum in June when the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) reportedly recommended conferences accept the proposal from EA Sports.
EA Sports had competition, however, as 2K Sports also wanted in on the college basketball action. Take-Two Interactive (the parent company of 2K) created College Hoops 2K from 2005 until 2008.
As part of their plans, EA Sports reportedly wanted exclusive licensing for any school, conference, or athlete. Read more from Ben Portnoy (via Sports Business Journal):
“The contention centers on EA Sports’ desire for exclusivity in the college basketball video game market, which it had sought after its proposal for a wide-ranging game incorporating every Division I men’s and women’s team was selected by CLC in June to be put forward to schools for their participation.”
EA Sports indeed backed out of the negotiations and 2K subsequently announced that it will enter the college basketball space.
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It makes sense that EA Sports would corner the college football market considering its success with Madden in the NFL but lack thereof for hoops as NBA Live was discontinued in 2018. Meanwhile, 2K leads efforts for the hardwood as it has an effective monopoly for basketball gaming.
But there is one glaring issue that is impossible to ignore for devoted college basketball fans: Unlike in College Football from EA Sports, not every NCAA team will immediately have a licensing deal in 2K.
Here is what to know about the future of the CLC and 2K Sports from Matt Brown (via Extra Points):
“Unlike EA Sports, the 2K bid did not call for the inclusion of every single D-I men’s and women’s basketball program. Instead, a different CLC memo detailed the 2K proposal as a non-exclusive license to produce a “5v5 tournament gameplay format integrated into NBA 2K MyTeam Mode via downloadable content (DLC).” 2K would evaluate the viability of a standalone college basketball title, depending on the financial performance of college basketball DLC.”
It is worth noting that the EA Sports agreement with the CLC would reportedly include all Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams, totaling 730 teams and offering NIL money to each player featured in the standalone game.
2K made an announcement that the game will feature “more than 100 programs” (and no specific mention of including women’s teams) to start.
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It would also exist as downloadable content with NBA 2K and not a standalone video game.
“The biggest thing I, as a fan of college sports video games, would be concerned about is the idea that 2K may not include all D-I programs in its release. The original licensing plans called for smaller-scale DLC packages that would live within the NBA2K titles, with each year adding more programs. When they confirmed our reporting last night, 2K’s announcement said they will feature “more than 100 programs” …but that’s a long way from everybody.”
Without a standalone game and instead existing just as part of NBA 2K (at least initially) and with only some of the Division I schools involved at first, fans will inevitably feel disappointed.
But the good news is that while fans may have waited until 2028 if EA Sports made the game, per Brown, it is possible fans can download college basketball content for NBA 2K sometime around February 2026 just before March Madness begins.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: 1 big issue with 2K making a college basketball game instead of EA Sports
