2K Sports is planning to make a college basketball video game, Sports Business Journal’s Jason Wilson reported. It would mark the company’s first foray back into college hoops since 2007 when College Hoops 2K8 released.
The new game would be a standalone game, according to SBJ, meaning it would not be downloadable content or an expansion of NBA 2K. More than 100 men’s and women’s programs are expected to get involved with SBJ reporting Michigan State, UCLA and Houston as teams rumored to be “in the mix.” Teams would receive “fair market value” for use of their NIL.
2K Sports’ reported plans to make a college basketball video game come weeks after EA Sports announced it would be making one of its own. Shortly after EA’s announcement, 2K Sports sent a cryptic post, saying “the campus has been quiet for too long,” along with a smirk emoji.
A request for proposal was put out by the College Licensing Company to create a college basketball video game in November 2024 and it was sent out last month, according to Extra Points’ Matt Brown, who reported the game could release in 2028. The CLC then recommended conferences accept a proposal from EA Sports.
“In a memo sent to college conference offices from the College Licensing Company (CLC), dated July 26, 2025, CLC put out a request for proposal (RFP) to create a college basketball video game in November 2024,” Brown wrote for Extra Points. “According to the memo, five companies expressed formal interest, and three filed formal bids.
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“The CLC memo recommends that the conferences accept the proposal made by EA Sports to bring back EA Sports College Basketball. This proposal states a plan for EA Sports to release the first game in 2028.”
EA Sports saw its return to the college football video game pay off in a big way last year as College Football 25 became one of the top-selling games of the year. EA also announced the video game had seen 6.5 million unique players to date.
Quick math shows EA brought in more than $400 million in sales from the game. With athletes able to appear in video games under new NIL guidance, the stage is set for college basketball to return to the space after more than a decade.
