EA Sports Brings Back College Basketball with a March Madness Tease

EA Sports is back in the basketball business—or at least, it sure looks that way. After years of silence, the publisher dropped a short but very loud teaser: an image of a basketball stamped with the EA Sports logo, paired with the message: “Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back. #CBB #ItsInTheGame.” No trailer, no gameplay, no date. Just that.

The post, shared via the official EA Sports X account, hints heavily at one thing: the return of NCAA March Madness college basketball. It’s been nearly 16 years since EA released a college basketball game. Their last one, NCAA Basketball 10, came out in 2009. Before that, the series began way back in 1998 with NCAA March Madness 98 on the original PlayStation, going strong with yearly updates—until the franchise just stopped.

The teaser uses “bring the madness,” which many fans are taking as a direct reference to the March Madness brand. But EA hasn’t officially confirmed the title yet. There’s still a chance the name might shift to something like EA Sports College Basketball, following the naming pattern they’re now using for college football.

And here’s where the timing gets interesting. EA hasn’t launched any basketball game—college or pro—since 2018. Their NBA Live series collapsed after years of delays, cancellations, and failed reboots. After NBA Live 10, the planned NBA Elite 11 fell apart so badly that boxed copies leaked despite it being officially canceled. EA then brought back the series with NBA Live 14, but it never really found its feet again. The final attempt, NBA Live 19, hit in September 2018. NBA Live 20 was quietly canceled, and then... silence.

EA Sports College Football is the answer. EA Sports College Football 25, launched in July 2024, didn’t just do well—it shattered records. It became the best-selling sports video game of all time in the US based on dollar sales, beating out even NBA 2K21. That kind of success sent a message: college sports are hot again.

The sequel, EA Sports College Football 26, drops this July. It’s already expected to dominate sales charts again, with early access from July 7 and the full release on July 10. With college football printing money, it’s no surprise EA is now betting big on another college sport.

In today’s gaming market, where sports titles are everywhere and every publisher is trying to own a slice of the action, this feels like a pretty smart lane change. EA knows that going head-to-head with 2K in the pro basketball arena would be a bloodbath. NBA 2K is too strong, too polished, and too dominant. So instead, they’re choosing a less crowded path.

From the outside, it’s refreshing. In a time when sports games blur together and franchises repeat themselves endlessly, it’s genuinely cool to see someone revisit a different angle. College basketball has its vibe, its own fanbase, its drama—and now, maybe, its digital comeback.

More developers need to experiment like this if they want their basketball titles to stand out. The era of trying to copy-paste an NBA simulator and hope it sells is over. Which is why bold, original takes like Rematch are also worth watching. That game is doing something new with the sport. It’s not trying to out-2K 2K. It’s making something else entirely.

So now EA is back in the gym, drawing up plays. No release window yet, no platforms mentioned. But if this new project really is the rebirth of NCAA March Madness, then it could be a major win, not just for EA, but for fans who’ve been waiting a long time to run it back.

Because yes, the world of sports games is packed. But when the right game shows up, built with the right passion and smarts, there’s still room for it to shine.