College Football 25 Glitch Gives Early Access Players Unstoppable Teams

EA Sports College Football 25 has been everything its publisher and its fans have wanted after a decade-long hiatus. At one point on July 16, when early access began, there were over 700,000 players online. Keep in mind the game doesn't officially launch until July 19. But with any big launch, there are server crashes, malfunctions, and game-breaking glitches.

EA's Ultimate Team is the subject of much scorn. Critics say the card-collecting mode is pay-to-win, and allows rich teams to get richer over the season. Those critics received plenty of ammunition this week as a pack glitch gave lucky players super squads.

The Conference Stories packs launched with odds that were the mirror universe version of EA's typical pack odds. For a brief time, every one of these packs had a player rated around 88 or 89, the highest possible rating at launch. Content creators, competitive players, or anybody who saw the bonanza on social media and took advantage ate well. They have god squads and sold any players they didn't want or need for huge stacks of in-game currency. The value of these cards on the player market has tanked since so many people have them. FC 24 players will remember a similar glitch that gave players a 97 overall Team of the Year Lionel Messi card. Those lucky players got an endgame-level card in January.

These teams will spend at least the first week of the game obliterating opponents, thus earning more coins. They will get wins they didn't earn, wrecking leaderboards possibly for the rest of the season. When the next must-have player drops, they will buy him instantly. It's the worst possible pay-to-win scenario brought to life. Players logging into the game for the first time on July 19 may have a rough time.

EA has patched the glitch and is working on changes to the cards accidentally sold. Until things get worked out, there's regular online play and multiple single-player modes if the god squads are too annoying to deal with.