Published October 14, 2026 01:03 PM
The free market operates in ways that may seem mysterious, but that it boils down to one thing — profitability, or lack thereof, controls everything.
That’s the big takeaway from the news, via Mike Straw of Insider Gaming, that the EA Sports Collge Football game may disappear (again), due ostensibly to rising NIL payments.
When the series returned in 2025, the players received $600 each. By 2027, it increased to $1,500. That makes it harder, obviously, for the game to make enough money to justify continuing it.
But it’s not just NIL. EA Sports, in order to make the game authentic, has to strike licensing deals with the schools, the bowl games, and the coaches. Ultimately, if the money going out isn’t sufficiently offset by the money coming in, the series will be canceled.
That’s true of any product. No matter how many people enjoy it, the company that makes it won’t keep making it if it the company isn’t making enough money. And it’s for the company to figure out a plan for maximizing profit.
EA Sports stopped producing college sports games after former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon realized that EA Sports was using his likeness without compensation and sued. EA Sports eventually paid $40 million to settle with some 29,000 players.
The game’s return came with the requirement to strike a deal with the players featured in the game. In 2025, it worked. But the sales apparently have fallen since it returned, which makes it harder to balance the books.
Ultimately, if the expense associated with making the game isn’t sufficiently offset by the money it generates, the game goes away. That’s how business works.
Of course, EA Sports could always try to shout that there’s CHAOS! in the video-game industry and beg Congress to pass a law that allows them to pay dramatically less for player NIL rights.
But that would run contrary to all principles of American capitalism, wouldn’t it?