EA Sports vs 2K College Basketball – What We Know About the New Rivalry Brewing

College Basketball remains an immensely popular part of the sport, and it appears that the two biggest names in sports video games are returning to the March Madness court, albeit with some uncertainty about the branding.

Electronic Arts has officially announced its return to college basketball, and 2K didn’t wait to hint at its own college hoops revival while the internet was celebrating. We are still very early into the news cycle for both games, meaning we have some good information but not enough to lock down what revolutionary approach each game will take or the key differences between the two company’s approach.

The last time EA Sports released a college basketball game was in November 2009 with NCAA Basketball 10. Less than four months later in February 2010, EA confirmed that the franchise was going on hiatus that year, leading to an eventual discontinuation.

Journalist Matt Brown’s Extra Points noted that College Licensing Company (CLC) put out a request for college basketball video game proposals in November 2024, with five total companies responding with interest. Of those five, three put in formal bits, with the CLC sending out a memo recommending college basketball conferences accept EA’s specific proposal.

According to Extra Points, the EA proposal confirmed the game would be willing to pay NIL money for players and include every men’s and women’s program in NCAA Division I, totalling around 730 teams. The Athletic also noted that, with the proposal accepted, colleges must opt in or out of participating in the game by July 18.

This also means EA likely plans to include a suite of options for women’s basketball too, though we don’t know in what form. The most we can expect right now is an approach similar to EA Sports College Football, featuring modes such as Dynasty, Road to Glory, and a version of Ultimate Team.

Brown also noted that the game will not use the NCAA branding, meaning the likely name would be EA Sports College Basketball to match EA Sports College Football and EA Sports FC.

According to Extra Points, the proposal written by EA that was presumably accepted would see the first game release in 2028. Additionally, the deal would involve a minimum of three games released within a six year timeframe, with EA likely to make the series yearly just like its other sports franchises. 

With EA officially revealing the project on June 30, that leaves us with at least three years until the prospective release window. Considering the revival for EA Sports College Football was announced in February 2021 and the first new game released on July 19, 2024, there is a real chance we see EA Sports College Basketball drop in September or October 2028, right before the start of that year’s college basketball season.

We have much less information about a potential 2K College Hoops revival since the company did not officially confirm anything with an announcement. 

A few hours after EA announced it was bringing back its college basketball titles, 2K responded to a post on Twitter saying that “The campus has been quiet for too long.” In an expanded statement to The Athletic, 2K all but confirmed it would also be returning to the college court, potentially creating a new rivalry.

“2K is the undisputed home of basketball gaming,” a 2K spokesperson said. “We have a strong history with college hoops and are exploring exciting new ways to bring athletes and schools to life. Class is in session.”

The last 2K college basketball product was College Hoops 2K8 in November 2007. However, over the last decade, 2K has been slowly increasing the amount of college basketball content featured in its NBA 2K franchise across modes like MyCareer, so this project has likely been at least mentioned in future plans for quite some time.

Much like EA, we don’t have a real timeline for 2K’s return to college basketball. If a similar proposal from 2K did reach the CLC, then it is possible a new College Hoops game would drop in November 2028 in direct competition to a speculated release for EA Sports College Basketball.

According to Extra Points, no college basketball project to this scale was far along in active development or even announced internally. At EA, some workers found out about the existence of the college basketball revival from Brown rather than the company before the official announcement. This means 2028 is likely the main target for both EA and 2K.

There are two mindsets players can look at these college basketball announcements through when it comes to performance while we know next to nothing about the products EA and 2K are cooking up.

On one hand, 2K is correct when it says ti is the “undisputed home of basketball gaming.” EA has tried and failed to match the success of NBA 2K for over a decade, eventually shuttering its NBA Live franchise on two separate occasions because it was simply unable to compete with the global juggernaut and market monopoly of NBA 2K.

Related Article: EA Sports College Football 26 Release Date Announced, But Fans Worries Over Platform Reveal

That gives 2K a big leg up in the general basketball gaming market and in terms of a headstart for dynamic gameplay that might lead to an earlier release and a familiar product for its existing audience. Much like how EA used Madden as a rough outline for EA Sports College Football, 2K can do the same with its NBA franchise for College Hoops. 

Flipping that, EA can come at its college basketball title with fresh eyes and a chip on its shoulder. Having to potentially face off directly against 2K in what amounts to a playoff road game when it comes to the stakes on the line could lead to striking gold with an entirely new approach to basketball gameplay, or a big miss that will see the revival crumble after the first few entries. 

Related Article: EA Sports College Football 26 Releases Top Team Ratings in Game

EA also has a solid rep coming in from its successful College Football venture, where the game became the best-selling sports game of all time and pleasantly surprised fans at the depth of its gameplay and modes vs the monetization attempts. 2K has a mixed reputation when it comes to how its single-player content is received every year, so that might be another advantage for EA, depending on how the companies approach this.

There is a non-zero change EA takes the same approach it did with EA Sports College Football and focuses on the single player content while 2K uses its preferred live-service model with a massive online hub or central theme to create something like The City, MyPark, or WWE 2K’s new The Island.

There are already hundreds of responses to 2K’s announcement that are memeing how much certain features will involve Virtual Currency (VC) microtransactions. Sentiment right now appears to be on EA’s side thanks to the success of EA Sports College Football, but there is a lot that can change once we see gameplay.