College Football 26 builds upon a strong foundation established in the previous title by introducing new features to Dynasty, Road to Glory, and Ultimate Team.
After waiting 11 years, college football fans proved that reviving the franchise was worth it. College Football 25 was 2024’s best-selling video game for months before being overtaken by Black Ops 6. CFB 25 also became the best-selling sports video game of all time in the United States, surpassing NBA 2K21.
The challenge for EA is motivating people to purchase another game, just one year later. All annual sports franchises face the same predicament of trying to evolve and bring you back for more. So let’s see what the CFB 26 devs have up their sleeves to answer that question.
What’s New in College Football 26?
EA revealed a brief overview going over all of the new features coming to CFB 26.
Gameplay Features
- Real-world coaches: EA acquired the licensing rights for over 300 coaches, enabling the game to utilize their names, likenesses, and unique play styles. Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, and Penn State’s James Franklin were all confirmed to be included. You can play as these coaches and go up against them in Dynasty or suit up for them in Road to Glory.
- Wear & Tear: Wear and tear is back in CFB 26, meaning players progressively get more injured throughout a game based on where and how they get hit. EA evolved the system so you can make dynamic substitutions to rotate players in and out without needing to pause so that you can limit and prevent injuries.
- On the field advancements: EA heard complaints about players getting sacked too easily, so blocking has been improved. On the other side of the ball, there is a new and improved physics-based tackling system, and the hit stick is more accurate.
- Home field advantage 2.0: Home field advantage returns in this game with a more intense camera shake, new visuals, and clock distortion when an away team is playing in a hostile environment. Confidence and composure attributes help counter the adverse effects.
Quality of Life Improvements
- Music: CFB 26 acquired the licensing rights for Virginia Tech’s intro song, Enter Sandman by Metallica, along with 160 new school chants, mascots, and band music. CFB also cuts down on the drum lines in the menus and replaces them with band covers for popular songs and other school fight songs.
- Commentary: Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, Desmond Howard, and Rece Davis all recorded new voice lines for the game.
- Trophy room: EA listened to community feedback and added a trophy room to show off your achievements in Dynasty, Road to Glory, Road to the College Football Playoffs, and Play Now.
Dynasty
- Recruiting: The transfer portal has been overhauled, and there are new location-based visits to give your program an advantage and new dynamic deal breakers and traits that you have to navigate.
- Cross-play: College Football 26 supports cross-play across Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. You will be able to run 32-person online Dynasty saves on any platform.
Road to Glory
- Archetypes: There are 10 new archetypes to choose from before starting a career.
- High School: In CFB 26, the journey starts in high school rather than in college, and you have to rise in the class rankings and secure a scholarship.
Ultimate Team
EA did not reveal any new features coming to Ultimate Team, but a blog post will be published closer to the release, going over the latest additions.
However, the development team did confirm that legends from the past are returning, along with head-to-head matches and themed challenges.
In other gaming news, concept art for the canceled Black Panther game has leaked, Respawn developers revealed that morale is “at an all-time low,” and the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developers are already planning for the next game.
Did EA do enough to warrant another purchase? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Forums.
