EA Sports recently announced the release date for College Football 26, firmly establishing the College Football games as a new annual franchise. This shouldn't be a huge surprise given the success of College Football 25, but I'll leave it up to you if another annual sports franchise is something you're excited about or not. Either way, it will be hard for College Football 26 to muster up the same enthusiasm that there was for last year's game.

College Football 25 was the first college football game in over a decade, so there was a massive level of excitement surrounding it. While College Football 26 is less novel, that doesn't mean it won't also be an exciting release. While there aren't many details yet, advertising teases at least one feature that would make College Football 26 a novel experience if it's included. College football rosters also turn over more regularly, meaning there is more room for new exciting talent in College Football 26 than in Madden NFL 26, where many of the players will remain the same.

College Football 26 Release Date & Pre-Orders

College Football 26 Will Be Released On July 10, 2025

EA Sports just announced that College Football 26 will be available July 10, 2025. This is just about a week earlier than College Football 25 came out, and gives us a good indication of the release window we can expect from future games. If you want to play even earlier, there is an option to get three extra days of Early Access which would presumably start on July 7, 2025, though no official start time has been given yet.

If you want to know down to the minute when you can start playing College Football 26, EA Sports sees you, and they have you covered. According to their website, College Football 26 officially drops at 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. That said, not all players are going to get to hit the field right away depending on how they play games. If College Football 25 is any indication, the game might not ever come out on certain platforms.

College Football 26 Editions & Prices

College Football 26 Starts At $69.99 For The Standard Edition

College Football 25 will be released on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S at a starting price of $69.99 for the Standard Edition. There is also a Deluxe Edition of the game that costs $99.99 on its own, or you can get it bundled with the Deluxe Edition of Madden NFL 26 for $149.99. With both Deluxe Editions costing $99.99 on their own, the bundle may seem like a steal, but that's only assuming you are planning to buy both individually. If, for example, you wanted to buy both Standard Editions, you would end up saving about $20.

Deciding which option is right for you comes down to whether you think the added content in the Deluxe Edition and the Bundle are worth a significant price hike. The Deluxe Edition of College Football 26 comes with three days of early access, some skill points, and some Ultimate Team packs. You can see the full list of add-ons below:

• Three-day Early Access
• Early Access Solo Challenges
• 4600 CUT Points
• Ultimate Team Top Prospect Pack
• Ultimate Team All Hands Pack
• Dynasty Coach Points
• Road To Glory Skill Points

Right off the bat, I'll say that the Deluxe Edition is only worth it if you're planning to play a decent amount of Ultimate Team mode, as most of the added value comes from the 4600 CUT Points. That said, even if you do play Ultimate Team, you can still decide to buy this in-game currency later for about the same rate. This is essentially the case for the Bundle, as its only unique item is an Ultimate Team Elite Player Item.

The value of getting three days' early access is a bit nebulous to me. I understand the urge to want to play a new game as soon as possible, but at the same time, it's hard to justify the extra cost after those three days are up. It's also worth noting that, if early access is exactly three days before launch, it will start in the middle of the day on a Monday. Younger players on summer break can take advantage of this, but anyone who's working likely isn't going to get much out of these extra few days.

As far as different consoles, as of now there is no word of a PC version or Switch 2 version of College Football 26. It also looks like it will be exclusive to current-gen systems, similar to College Football 25. No PC version of the last game ever came out, so it's probably safe to assume this year's model will follow suit.

College Football 26 Gameplay Details

College Football 26 Will Likely Have All The Same Modes As College Football 25

Based on the skill points available in the Deluxe Edition of College Football 26, we can expect to see the return of Road to Glory mode, Dynasty mode, and Ultimate Team mode. As per usual, you will also just be able to play quick casual games that aren't part of any dedicated mode. As of now, there haven't been any announcements about major changes to the existing game modes, so I would expect them to stay relatively the same unless we hear otherwise.

One interesting thing that I noticed is that some of EA Sports' advertising for the game focuses on the idea of experiencing your football career "from high school recruit, to NFL Legend." This means at the very least that College Football 26 will include some high school games in Road To Glory, similar to NBA 2K25's ​​​​​​MyCareer mode. The idea of continuing all the way to the NFL almost seems to hint at some interaction with Madden NFL 26, which would be awesome if it were the case, but most likely it's not a literal feature, just a catchy slogan.

We'll have to wait for more details about both College Football 26 and Madden NFL 26 to see if there is any more to this than an advertising hook. I would love to be optimistic and say that I think it's likely, but I'm guessing the games will stay largely independent. Although I'm not as excited about College Football 26 as last year's game, I'll be interested to see if EA Sports adds any exciting new features, or rests on their laurels. At the very least, maybe we can get some more mascots for new schools.

Source: EA Sports