EA Sports won't be moving forward with its college basketball video game plans after all. Back in June, EA teased the revival of its college basketball video game series after reports broke that the Colelge Licensing Company requested proposals from video game publishers to make a college basketball game.
"Bring the Madness. Let's run it back," EA Sports teased on social media this week with the hashtag "#CBB." No official announcement was made, but many had interpreted EA's tweet as confirmation that the sports publisher was already developing a college basketball game.
As it turns out, EA wasn't the only publisher to submit a bid. Take-Two, the parent company of 2K, publisher of the popular NBA 2K video game series, also submitted a bid.
As detailed by Extra Points' Matt Brown, 2K's proposal was for "a non-exclusive license to produce a '5v5 tournament gameplay format integrated into NBA 2K MyTeam Mode via downloadable content (DLC).'"
"2K would evaluate the viability of a standalone college basketball title, depending on the financial performance of college basketball DLC," Brown reported.
This came on the heels of Ben Portnoy's own reporting through Sports Business Journal, which claimed:
Discussions involving EA Sports, the Collegiate Licensing Company and the NCAA, among others, around a reboot of a college basketball franchise have hit a snag due to deals individual schools are weighing with rival video game publishing label 2K Sports for a separate product, multiple sources familiar with the talks told Sports Business Journal.
Fast forward to Wednesday evening, and Brown has now shared an official message sent from Sean O'Brien, EA Sports' VP Commercial Partnerships & Licensing, to school and conference licensing directors. It reads:
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for inclusion in NBA 2K, the offer to be included in a college basketball video game will unfortunately have to be rescinded.
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.
With EA officially rescinding its licensing offer, it now means 2K will be the sole maker of a college basketball video game. The publisher confirmed on social media that it's currently working on a "college basketball experience that will feature more than 100 programs from across the country."
The fact that they referred to this as an experience and not a video game, leads us to believe that our first college basketball game will indeed be a form of DLC in the NBA 2K series and not a full-fledged standalone title. 2K has promised "a few surprises" coming in early 2026 with "big plans" for 2027 and beyond.