NIL hype helps ‘EA College Football’ score 6.5 million players in 2024

Name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals have officially revived a beloved video game franchise. During a call with investors, Electronic Arts (EA) revealed that EA Sports College Football 25 had the largest launch of any new console game in 2024, with 6.5 million players in total.

The new game revived a franchise that initially ran between 1998 and 2013. College Football was a hit with players, but EA Sports discontinued it after a court ruled that the company could not profit off the likenesses of amateur athletes.

A decade later, in the era of NIL deals, EA Sports revived College Football and compensated the current college athletes who chose to be portrayed in the game. That decision reportedly cost EA $6 million, but it also came with a big reward. Even though the new College Football installment debuted to mixed reviews, it has already earned an estimated $400 million in sales, according to On3.

The NIL era has turned college athletes into celebrity creators, and EA is already benefitting from that shift. Now, the Bay Area-based company is courting creators in a different video game world: That of The Sims

. The life simulator is getting its own creator program that will be connected to the broader EA Creator Network.

Long before Minecraft and Roblox existed, The Sims was a go-to sandbox platform for creative gamers, so it makes sense for the long-running franchise to move into the territory occupied by more current contemporaries. Roblox and Fortnite pay out millions per year through their respective creator programs, and EA is hoping that an old-school favorite can grab a piece of that pie.

The Sims creator program will open new doors for storytellers, builders, and modders. Opportunities will include early access to new content packs and the ability to launch Creator Kits in titles like The Sims 4. To qualify for the program, Sims players must have at least 5,000 followers, 40 average concurrent viewers over the past 30 days, or 2,000 average downloads on their custom in-game content.

More details about EA’s additions to the Sims universe can be found here. Whether you’re a college football fanatic or a resident Simlish expert, it’s a good time to be making stuff in video games, and EA’s creator economy is going full speed ahead.