EA Sports withdraws college basketball video game proposal in licensing war with 2K

2K intends to use only a small number of college basketball programs in its NBA 2K franchise

Apr 3, 2025; Tampa, FL, USA; A Wilson EVO Nxt basketball ball with the 2025 NCAA logo approaches the rim and the net at Amalie Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Plans for a new college basketball video game from EA Sports have hit a significant roadblock.

Back in June, EA Sports announced plans to bring back a college basketball version of its video games, which comes after the success of CFB25 and CFB26 on the football side.

However, EA Sports has reportedly rescinded its proposal to make a standalone college hoops video game, due to enough schools choosing instead to license themselves with Take Two — the company in charge of the popular NBA 2K franchise.

Reporting from Matt Brown of Extra Points included the following memo sent out by Sean O'Brien, the VP of Commercial Partnerships and Licensing at EA Sports.

“Given there are some schools choosing to accept the 2K Sports proposal for inclusion in NBA 2K, the offer to be included in a college basketball video game will unfortunately have to be rescinded,” O’Brien wrote. “Everyone at EA SPORTS is disappointed that we all couldn’t find an acceptable path forward, but we appreciate your support in trying to bring a stand-alone college basketball game with all men’s and women’s Division 1 institutions and student athletes, conferences, as well as the NCAA, in a way that fans have told us they want. We really appreciate your support.”

EA Sports planned to release a new CBB game in 2028, which would come 18 years after the last college hoops game. Changes in NIL policy have made the return of these popular college sports games possible, and EA Sports wanted to capitalize by releasing a game with every Division 1 men's and women's basketball program featured.

However, 2K began challenging EA Sports for licensing rights, hoping instead to have a select number of college teams integrated into NBA 2K MyTeam mode, with the possibility of creating a standalone college basketball game depending on how this integration performed financially.

2K got enough programs to license with them instead of EA Sports, and EA Sports opted to rescind their proposal rather than go forward with an incomplete group of teams.

The appeal for many fans about a standalone college basketball video game is being able to play as any Division 1 team in the sport — from Duke, UConn, and Gonzaga to Lehigh, Princeton, Cal Baptist, and Alcorn State. While Gonzaga seems like a decent bet to be involved in the NBA 2K franchise, it will still be as part of an NBA video game and won't feature the opportunity to play against other WCC schools, or likely many of the programs in the new-look Pac-12.

How soon college teams end up integrated into NBA 2K remains to be seen, as well as which schools — including Gonzaga — are involved, but the dream of a new, all-encompassing college basketball video game will have to be put on hold for now.