EA Sports Drops a Bombshell on Game Pricing—Players Are Already Reacting!

Here’s a crazy thought: as Microsoft and Nintendo crank up their prices—games veering toward $80 and consoles pushing past $400—are we looking at the dawn of a new “gamers’ sticker shock” era? Yet somehow, in the midst of this price chaos, EA is waving a cooler head, promising no hikes for Madden NFL 26 or College Football 26. It’s like watching a fierce price war unfold on one side of the field while EA’s quietly calling an audible, reminding us that delivering bang-for-the-buck still matters. I gotta admit, that mix of restraint and confidence in a landscape headed for pricier turf feels a little like finding a hidden playbook in a sea of blitzes. So, are EA’s Seth Rollins going unbothered while others shimmy-shift their prices upward? For now, it seems that way—but knowing how fast this game changes, I’d keep one eye open. LEARN MORE

There’s set to be an increase in the price of video game hardware and games in the months to come as two of the largest companies, Microsoft and Nintendo, recently announced major price hikes. But will this affect fans of the EA Sports Madden NFL and EA College Football video game franchises?

For the time being, the answer appears to be no. 

In a recent investors call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson initially stated that the goal of the company is “to deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase.”

“In terms of pricing power, our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago,” Wilson said, via IGN. “In a world where everything we did 10 years ago was about selling shiny discs in plastic boxes in retail shelves — well, that’s still a part of our business, it’s a significantly smaller part of our business, and we now have pricing representing everything from free-to-play all the way to deluxe editions and beyond.

“At the end of the day, whether we’re doing something that costs a dollar, or we’re doing something that costs $10, or we’re doing something that costs $100, our objective is always to deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase. And what we’ve discovered over the course of time is [when] we can marry quality and value together, our business is strong, resilient, and continues to grow.”

But it was EA CFO Stuart Canfield who delivered the news that gamers were more eager to hear. Canfield stated that there were no plans to increase prices at this time.

“From a guidance perspective… we have reflected no changes in our current (pricing) strategy at this point,” Canfield said.

EA has confirmed it has no plans to raise the price of its games even as the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo jump to $80. https://t.co/Rd7xG9VQoQ pic.twitter.com/nkLLAWwsd9

— IGN (@IGN) May 7, 2025

That will be welcome news to gamers, who have already been wringing their hands over the base price of games largely going up from $60 to $70 in recent years. 

But Nintendo really kicked things into overdrive by announcing that the base price of games in their next console will start at $80, while the new console would cost $450.

Microsoft followed suit by announcing price hikes across the board for nearly all XBOX hardware.

EA can, of course, change their minds any time they want. But it looks as though Madden NFL 26 and College Football 26 are going to be $70.

For now…

Related: Christian McCaffrey Reacts To Landing Cover Of EA Sports’ Madden 25