It’s been on the sidelines far too long.
EA Sports “College Football 25,” out on Friday, is being dubbed the most highly anticipated sports video game of all time.
During the 2000s, it was ranked among the most popular games ever sold. But when new versions were discontinued in 2013 amid a nasty gridlock of legal battles, fans were devastated.
Now, more than a decade later, hardcore users are rejoicing in its return.
“When the clock struck midnight on the new year, all I could think about was that it was finally coming back,” diehard fan Richard Clemens, 25, of Norwalk, Connecticut, told The Post.
He added that next to getting engaged, playing the collegiate gridiron franchise again — one that ran for 21 years before being halted — is “the highlight of my year.”
Legal flags on the play
The beloved game fumbled 11 years ago when the NCAA canceled its brand licensing contract and, in addition, EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company faced paying a $40 million settlement for improper use of student athletes’ names and likenesses.
A friend of Clemens, Eric Kosh, 26, called it “massively disappointing” to no longer be able to play a college football video game as a university student himself at the time.
“It was gutting. We would have been hosting tournaments all the time in our dorm,” Kosh told The Post, adding that he held on to his now-outdated PlayStation 3 console to keep scoring with the old games since.
But in 2021, the NCAA changed its rules on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights, allowing student-athletes to profit from brand usage — which finally paved the way for new games.
“The fan reaction was as if everyone in America won the lottery at the same time,” Clemens said.
The manufacturer certainly scored a touchdown: Presales of the $70 game — with three-day early access for $90 — netted a whopping $70 million on its first recent sneak-peek day, reported Barstool Sports.
More than just a game
The collegiate-level game — featuring 134 universities to choose from — always rivaled that of its pro-football brethren, the uber-popular “John Madden Football” and “Madden NFL” series, which only offered 32 cookie-cutter teams.
“You can’t compare the two at all. ‘College Football’ blows ‘Madden’ out of the water,” avid 24-year-old player Anthony Pantino of Bethpage, New York, told The Post.
Like Kosh, he kept his antiquated Xbox 360 running to play old versions of his longtime fave.
The game even allows players to build a “college football dynasty from the ground up as a coach,” an intricate aspect that lured Pantino since he first “fell in love” with the game in 2007.
“Being better than Nick Saban is the goal,” he said with pride of the legendary Alabama coach who retired early this year.
Back in play — finally
Pantino admitted that he could spend an entire weekend building his virtual football program for the much-anticipated return of the state-of-the-art game.
“Madden doesn’t give you that kind of depth,” he said, adding that “College Football” offers a player “a true feeling of accomplishment.”
For other diehards like Kosh, this game is no child’s play, either. For weeks, he has compiled a multipage document on tactics and adjustments that make the game even more realistically challenging.
“This is the real deal. We’ve waited over 10 years to get back at it, and I’m wasting no time at all,” he said.
“We will all be glued to our TVs Friday. If you thought the summer of ‘Barbie’ was huge, just wait for this.”
