NIL created a ‘moving target’ in building EA Sports College Football

EA Sports has been in the process of developing a college football game for some time. Once NIL was introduced and players could be paid for their presence in the game, EA Sports got working. Everyone will finally get their hands on EA Sports College Football 25 in July, showcasing what has been years of work for the people involved.

Plenty has changed in the sport since development began, though. Principle Game Designer Ben Haumiller explains the adjustments the EA Sports team has had to make on multiple different topics. College football has changed greatly both on and off the field, being completely different than when they began the process.

“We started, it was still a four-team playoff,” Haumiller said during Tuesday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “We started this and conference realignment hadn’t kicked into gear with this year. We started this and you could only transfer one time. We’ve had to make a lot of those adjustments and changes this entire time through to make the game current.”

A few of those changes can be pinned down and put into the game. The 12-team playoff is happening beginning next season, while players can transfer an unlimited amount of times until told otherwise. All something EA Sports can deal with in the lifespan of this year’s game.

The same cannot be said about NIL, with Haumiller calling it a “moving target” at the moment. He wants to make sure the rules are more set in stone before implementing NIL into the game.

“NIL is such a moving target,” Haumiller said. “That’s one that was really hard of us to see. ‘How do we want to do this?’ and we’re waiting until it kind of dies down, have something more concrete that we can build on.”

Staples had the opportunity to play EA Sports College Football 25 in May, discussing different aspects of the game. NIL does play a role in dynasty mode but not as specific as what you would see in the real world. His explanation ties together with what Haumiller says.

“Their thought was, ‘We’ve got a game that’s got to last us a year here.’ Let us incorporate brand building,” Staples said. “That’s really what stands in for NIL, from the coach perspective. … You do have to think about that from a team perspective. Do you have the brand? Which stands in for — do you have the NIL war chest to get the kind of players you want?

“Are you meeting with guys about their NIL deals or do you have guys hitting you up for bigger NIL deals? No, not yet.”