Developers working on EA Sports' College Football franchise reportedly fear that the series may not live to see the end of the decade.

The report comes from Insider Gaming's Mike Straw, who spoke to senior-level sources working on or around the football series. He noted that, although the series is performing well, sales have gradually declined entry to entry since its highly-anticipated debut in 2024. While this isn't inherently a bad thing (or unexpected, given the extreme hype around the 2024 title), costs associated with the game have been rising.

Per the report, in 2024, EA paid each player featured in the game $600, amounting to roughly $7 million total. Those costs have tripled, with NIL (name, image, likeness) rights for college athletes now costing $1,500 per player. As a result, EA spent roughly $20 million on its players with its latest game. EA also pays boatloads of cash to license bowl games, universities, and more, meaning tens of millions of dollars goes into just having the right to use certain elements in the game as opposed to raw development costs.

This has led to EA trying to monetize key areas of the game, including College Football's single-player modes. This led to extreme backlash earlier this summer due to the fact players felt they were being pushed to pay to efficently play single-player content. EA eventually bent the knee and reversed course, but noted that it would retool these options and bring them back in future entries.

One source told Insider Gaming that microtransactions were planned to return in future College Football single-player titles, and feared that it would anger players, pushing them away from a game that is trying to grow.

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