Electronic Arts’ first college football video game, Bill Walsh’s College Football, was released in 1993. It was supposed to rival the company’s John Madden NFL football game. Fast-forward thirty-plus years and college football fans have experienced quite a rollercoaster relationship with the beloved college football video game.
In the mid-2010s, though, fans were shocked to hear that the series had been canceled due to NIL legislation. In 2025, though, EA finally released the new version of the classic—this time with proper NIL deals for the players. Let’s take a look back at the first edition of Bill Walsh’s College Football.
Called the Golden Age of Sports Games
The game itself had 48 teams, including some of the top college teams from 1992 and the top 24 overall since 1978.
It also leaned heavily on Bill Walsh’s coaching style and play-calling and included Walsh Report scouts on each team. It also included 68 classic college plays paying homage to Walsh’s days with the Stanford Cardinal.
It also included 48 team cards with 35 players per team. Real players’ names and likenesses were not used due to a lack of NCAA licensing, but players did have numbers and ratings.
When legal battles emerged over later versions of the game, actual NCAA athletes recognized that their traits were being used and sought to sue to be compensated.
Game Modes Gave Bill Walsh’s College Football a Feel Like No Other
The College Playoff Championship culminated a game season, including exhibition and season modes. Meanwhile, the 16-game single-elimination tournament was also a feature of Bill Walsh’s College Football 1993.
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The tournament’s purpose was to allow you to play current teams or the best of the best from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s and decide who the best team is.
As you win games, you get closer and closer to the championship, which, as the Walsh liner notes say, “is where you’ll find out who has the real team.”
The Legacy Of Bill Walsh’s College Football 1993
With the success of the 1993 version of the game, Electronic Arts Sports released a follow-up 1995 edition.
The game became College Football USA 96; another was released as College Football USA 97.
It was rechristened NCAA Football 98 and stayed that way until 2014 when a lawsuit was launched. Former UCLA Bruins basketball player Ed O’Bannon was an ex-player who filed an antitrust suit in 2013, arguing that the NCAA, which named Electronic Arts Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company as co-defendants, was wrongfully using athletes’ images commercially.
Electronic Arts Sports College Football 25 has returned in a big way for sports game fans, and a 2026 edition is also on the way.
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