College Football 25: How Having Real Players Nerfed A Beloved Feature

Almost every fan who is anxiously awaiting the arrival of EA’s College Football 25 is happy to see real player likenesses included in the game.

However, I recently learned from EA that the addition of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) players came at the cost of the ability to fully edit rosters.

Why You Won’t Be Able To Edit Rosters in College Football 25 The Way You Could in NCAA Football

The loss of the ability to fully edit rosters is going to bum a lot of fans out. It was one of the few disappointing pieces of news I learned about the game when I played the upcoming title and spoke with the developers.

I was told the right to license college players came with strict guidelines prohibiting users from completely editing the rosters as they could in the NCAA Football series.

The specifics of the limitations were unclear, but we know that you’ll be able to edit fewer details on NIL players than on non-NIL players. Color this as speculation, but you may only have the freedom to edit specific equipment for players like Texas QB Quinn Ewers. At the same time, you may get closer to the complete sandbox of NCAA Football with a non-NIL player.

Editing and sharing rosters was one of the best aspects of the old college game, but this was partly due to the lack of real players in those titles. With EA College Football 25 having the license to use nearly every player at the 134 FBS schools, it is tough to gauge how big of an impact this limitation will have on the game’s bottom line.

Still, the game is so good in so many ways that getting too down on one limitation is tough. Check out my first-hand impressions here.

Team Builder Sounds Like a Stacked Feature That Could Help Soften the Blow

We only got a partial preview of the Team Builder website/app. However, we learned that the feature will be expanded beyond the already verbose system fans fell in love with more than ten years ago.

The flexibility in TB may scratch the customization itches and provide the level of custom creation many fans will miss with the editing limitations.

We’ll know for sure when we get a closer look and perhaps a hands-on run with the feature. Hopefully, users will be able to add multiple teams per Dynasty mode using Team Builder, as it would be a major impediment if you could only add one per single-player experience.

Will The Full Player Editing Feature Ever Return?

Even if Team Builder is a solid addition to the feature set, it will only partially fill the void of complete roster editing. There is hope that the deal EA has struck to include real players will lead to more flexibility in the future.

This could lead to a situation in which we see a trimmed-down version of player editing in the first year of the rebooted series, and a more fleshed-out version will be available in future versions of the game.

Let’s hope that’s the case.