Yahoo Sports What you’ll see, hear with South Carolina, Williams-Brice in new EA Sports game
The most anticipated video game release of the year is almost here, and there’s a ton to look forward to if you’re a fan of the South Carolina football team.
After months of teases and hype, EA Sports’ “College Football 25” will be released for PlayStation and Xbox next week — on Friday, July 19, 2024 — marking the first new game in the beloved series previously known as “NCAA Football” in 11 years.
The most recent game, “NCAA Football 14,” came out in summer 2013 before the series went on hiatus amid various lawsuits surrounding the use of college athletes’ names, images and likenesses in video games without permission or compensation.
Now, with college athletes able to benefit from NIL since 2021, it’s almost go time. And South Carolina laid out a garnet and black carpet for EA Sports, providing tons of information to create a realistic virtual Williams-Brice Stadium.
Through public records requests, The State obtained information on various visual and audio assets that South Carolina provided to EA Sports during the game company’s exhaustive information-gathering process for all 134 Division I FBS schools that began in January 2021 and continued through this year.
A college sending information, details or assets did not explicitly guarantee those submissions would show up in the game, and EA Sports had ultimate discretion over what to include or not include. But game developers have pledged to make things as realistic as possible and often touted that “every team is somebody’s favorite team” as their guiding principle in creating “College Football 25.”
Here’s a closer look at USC’s submissions for the game.
Gameday audio
EA Sports and its licensing partner, CLC, sent out an audio request sheet to every school and asked them to provide what songs their bands play during such specific moments as a touchdown or a big third down on defense.
South Carolina included information for what to play for 12 different instances during a home football game, some or all of which could pop up during users’ gameplay. Click on each submission to hear the attached audio:
Editor's note: Viewing this story in our app? Click here to listen to the audio clips.
One other note: South Carolina included on its spreadsheet that it plays “Sandstorm,” a song by Finnish DJ/producer Darude that’s become synonymous with Gamecocks football, before the opening kickoff as well as non-opening kickoffs. “Sandstorm” will be in the game, as confirmed by The Athletic, but it’s not included in the audio display above due to copyright reasons. USC, of course, also noted that the crowd waves towels while the song plays.
While it isn’t known if or how the Gamecocks’ “2001” entrance will be portrayed in the game, the university’s submission to EA Sports noted that fans chant “Game!” and “Cocks!” as part of the team’s pregame run-out. The school included an audio clip of that fan chant and paired it with the “Cocky’s 2001” song that’s performed by the band and has elements of the more-famous “2001” run-out song.
Visual assets
South Carolina submitted dozens of images to EA Sports to assist with a virtual rendering of Williams-Brice Stadium, its towering 80,250-seat football stadium in Columbia. The school also sent in information on logos, uniforms and helmets.
The State, through public records request, obtained 57 of the photos USC sent into EA Sports to help game developers construct a virtual rendering of its stadium. Among the unique stadium assets highlighted:
Multiple photos of general seating bleachers
Close-up photos of luxury suites and their black leather chair seating
Multiple angles of the stadium’s classic upper-deck overhanging lights
Numerous shots of the press box
Pictures from the top of the stadium showing various buildings (including the football facility), roads and parking lots in the distance to help with scenery
Pictures of the school’s video board
Other photos submitted gave EA Sports a good look at the unique, widely curved staircases on each side of the stadium (to the upper left and right of each end zone) that feature ribbon-style player recognitions and other details.
One picture gave a clear view of a banner honoring star 1980s Gamecocks wide receiver Sterling Sharpe and his No. 2 jersey, as well as the small ribbon banners honoring USC’s 1969 ACC championship and 2010 SEC Eastern Division title.
Another picture offers a similar view of standout 1950s running back Steve “The Cadillac” Wadiak’s sign at the top of the staircase to the left of South Carolina’s video board.
USC also sent in multiple pictures highlighting the hedges that line the back of the both end zones at Williams-Brice Stadium (and are often damaged or destroyed during field storms after upset wins, most recently USC’s 2022 rout of No. 5 Tennessee).
EA Sports said in a blog post it was committed to building out each stadium as accurately as possible and specifically mentioned South Carolina in a section about crowd details.
“Each and every stadium is set up with its band section, away visitors section, and student section,” EA Sports wrote. “Also, schools are equipped with pageantry props accurate to life such as Pom-Poms at Michigan and Tennessee, towels at South Carolina and Pitt, and even the Tiger Tails for Missouri.”
Where does South Carolina rank?
South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium came in at No. 15 (three spots behind rival Clemson) in EA Sports’ “toughest places to play” ranking for the game, something many Gamecocks fans took issue with.
That was the only ranking USC popped up in, though, which was mostly a result of its 2023 season. After going 5-7 last year and missing a bowl game in coach Shane Beamer’s third season, the Gamecocks didn’t appear anywhere in EA Sports’ top 25 rankings for overall offense, overall defense and overall team ranking.
The silver lining? Those rankings, of course, are “subject to change,” and USC could very well surge in them if the team gets off to a hot start in 2024 with newly minted starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers and company.
When does the game come out?
July 19, 2024, is the “worldwide launch date” for EA Sports’ “College Football 25.” The game will be available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (the most recent consoles for those brands). It will not be available to play on PC or any previous versions of the PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
The standard edition of the game is $69.99 plus tax, and the deluxe version of the game is $99.99 plus tax.
The deluxe edition offers three-day early access starting July 16. You can pre-order the standard and deluxe versions online through July 18.
