EA Sports College Football 25 used AI to complete part of its development

Developing ‘EA Sports College Football 25′ has been quite a challenge for the EA Sports team, which has been well-recognized by fans who have been waiting for the return of this sport to consoles. With a much larger number of stadiums and players to recreate than Madden NFL, the feat is admirable, although of course it was aided by modern techniques used by the company’s “very talented artists”.

During Electronic Arts’ most recent investor call, Andrew Wilson, the company’s CEO, explained in prepared remarks the work that went into the development of EA Sports College Football 25, calling it a “monumental moment” for the division as well as an “impressive creative and technological achievement.” In response, Wilson revealed that the company used AI and machine learning technologies to aid in the game’s extensive development process. “Creating 150 unique stadiums and over 11,000 player likenesses couldn’t be done without EA’s deep history of being a technology leader, and by our incredibly passionate and talented teams harnessing the power of A.I. and machine learning to deliver truly amazing entertainment.”

While the use of this technology may raise some eyebrows, Wilson later clarified that these heads and stadiums were only partially created with this technology. The executive explained that unlike other titles, where “about 500 to 1,000 heads inside one of our games” are developed, this technology had to be applied to facilitate the developers’ big challenge because of all the material to be developed, where artists used workflows and algorithms to improve the players’ appearance.

“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 concluded.

EA Sports College Football 25 is now available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.