With the entire battalion of college programs at your fingertips, the developers at EA Sports had a ton of work to do to create College Football 25—but they had some help from AI.
According to Polygon, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that the developers used machine learning and AI-powered tech to help create over 11,000 player likenesses in the game, along with 150 different stadiums across the United States.
Wilson did clarify that the stadiums and players were not completely created by AI and that artists were tasked to touch up and enhance player faces in post. The team would usually use traditional ways to create these players, whether it was through face scans or by hand.
With over 11,000 players, however, the developers would be taking on a massive job that could not even be compared to their other EA Sports titles, with a usual roster of around 500 to 1,000. As a result, College Football 25 presented a massive challenge that needed some external aid to complete.
“In the absence of AI, we simply would not have been able to deliver College Football at the level we did, even though we’ve given the team many, many years in development,” Wilson said. “It was a decision that we made because we were really building the franchise for the future.”
This won’t be the last time that EA will be using AI technology and machine learning for their games, with plans to build out rosters in the company’s 2025 installment in the popular sports franchise, EA FC. Like College Football, FC 25 will feature hundreds of different players in the game, but this time, they will be from all over the world.
