Twenty years ago, Wolverine Studios was founded with a simple goal: create the deepest, most realistic franchise mode sports simulations possible. As we celebrated our 20th anniversary earlier this year, it felt like the perfect time to look ahead to what comes next.
Welcome to the new wolverinestudios.com.
While the redesigned website is the most visible change, it also represents the beginning of a new chapter for Wolverine Studios. As we prepare to launch our 2027 lineup, we’re making several changes that we believe will strengthen both our games and our community for years to come.
One thing, however, is not changing.
Our commitment to building the best franchise mode experiences on the planet—and providing the level of customer support you’ve come to expect—remains as strong today as it was twenty years ago.
The 2027 Season Begins
We’re excited to announce that Draft Day Sports: College Football 27 will enter FirstAccess on Monday, August 3rd, with the full public launch following on Monday, August 17th.
As always, FirstAccess gives our community the opportunity to play the game early, provide feedback, and help us identify any last-minute issues before the official release. The program has been an important part of our development process for years, and the quality of our games has benefited greatly from the passion and dedication of our players.
We’ll continue to offer a pre-order discount for FirstAccess customers, but one part of the program is changing.
Changes to FirstAccess
Beginning with this year’s releases, FirstAccess purchases will no longer include a complimentary Steam key.
This wasn’t a decision we made lightly, but after looking at how players purchase and review games today, we believe it’s the right move for the future.
One of the biggest reasons is Steam reviews. Complimentary keys do not count toward a game’s review score, which means many of our most loyal players—the people who know and enjoy our games the most—haven’t been able to help us build the public reputation our games deserve.
Positive reviews play an important role in helping new customers discover our games, and we want to make it easier for those who choose to purchase through Steam to have their voices heard.
If Steam is your preferred platform, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered.
Going forward, every new release will receive a launch discount on Steam that matches the FirstAccess discount available through our website. The only difference is timing: you’ll receive the Steam version at launch rather than during the early access period.
Benefits for Purchasing Directly
While Steam is an important platform for us, we also want to continue rewarding those who purchase directly from Wolverine Studios.
Customers who purchase directly from us will continue to receive upgrade discounts for future versions through our email mailing list, provided they’ve allowed us to contact them. Buying direct remains the best way to support the continued development of our games, and we’ll continue looking for ways to provide additional value to those customers.
A New Home for Online Leagues
Another change we’re excited about involves our multiplayer community.
Over the years we’ve operated a Featured Leagues program that highlighted a small number of leagues meeting specific requirements, including producing regular social media content.
While that program served its purpose, we believe there’s a better way to support our community.
We’re replacing Featured Leagues with a new Online League Directory that will allow anyone to submit their league for inclusion. Whether you’re running a highly competitive long-term league or simply looking for more owners to join your group, we want to help players connect with one another.
Our goal is simple: encourage more online leagues, make them easier to discover, and continue growing one of the best multiplayer communities in sports simulation gaming.
And if your league creates videos, streams, podcasts, or social media content, we’d still love to help promote it. Tag us, and we’ll happily share it whenever we can.
A New Release Schedule for College Basketball
One final change affects our College Basketball series.
Several years ago we moved the release of Draft Day Sports: College Football from bowl season to the beginning of the college football season. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and it made sense to launch the game when excitement for the sport was at its highest.
Beginning with this release cycle, we’re making the same change for Draft Day Sports: College Basketball.
Rather than launching around March Madness, future versions will release much closer to the start of the college basketball season and much closer to the annual release of Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball.
We believe this better aligns with how fans follow the sport and gives players the opportunity to start new dynasties as a new season begins.
We also understand this means Draft Day Sports: College Basketball 26 will have a slightly shorter release cycle than previous versions. We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we make this transition.
The good news is that, unlike licensed sports games, our college titles aren’t tied to real player rosters. They remain just as enjoyable long after release, and we hope you’ll continue building your programs for many more months. Moving the release schedule also allows us to offer deeper discounts during March Madness, giving new players another great opportunity to discover the series.
Looking Ahead
The new website is only the beginning.
Over the coming months we’ll be sharing much more about each of our 2027 releases, including new features, development updates, screenshots, and gameplay details as launch season unfolds.
To everyone who has supported Wolverine Studios over the past twenty years—thank you.
Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or just recently discovered our games, your support has allowed us to continue building the kind of franchise mode experiences that simply don’t exist anywhere else.
Our mission hasn’t changed.
We’re still committed to building the deepest, most realistic sports management simulations we possibly can, and we’re incredibly excited to show you what’s coming next.
The next generation of Wolverine Studios starts today, and we can’t wait to share it with you.