EA Sports College Football 27 has quickly garnered a "Mostly Negative" user score on Steam within its first 24 hours of release, with only 33 percent of reviews being positive. This negative reception stems from the implementation of microtransactions that appear to lock or gate content previously accessible offline in earlier installments of the franchise.
Despite the overwhelmingly negative user reviews, initial impressions from some reviewers suggest the game itself is a significant improvement over its predecessor, EA Sports College Football 26. The controversy centers on EA's decision to replace features in offline modes like Dynasty and Road To Glory with a microtransaction currency called "College Football Points."
According to player reports on Steam, the ability to adjust XP earning rates in these offline modes, a feature present in College Football 26, has been removed. Players now reportedly need to purchase "College Football Points" to achieve similar progression speeds. Furthermore, some reviewers note that while the base XP gains have increased, the amount of XP required to level up has also been raised, and there may be a cap on earned XP without spending real money.
Insider Gaming reports that content creators who received early access to the game did not encounter these microtransactions in their preview builds. This has led to accusations that EA withheld information about the in-game purchases to influence early reviews.
As of now, EA has not issued an official statement regarding the controversy. In response, fans and content creators are attempting to mobilize online, with the hashtag "#cfbplaydontpay" gaining traction as a call to action for players to reconsider purchasing the game.