Getting likes and getting a video game you’ve anticipated for a decade? Not a bad deal if you can get it. And lots of folks on TikTok are getting that deal.

A new trend has started in the last week or so amid the building hype around College Football 25, EA Sports’ long-awaited release. People on TikTok — typically men — ask their partners, usually women, how many likes they need to get their partner to buy them the game. Usually, this involves thousands of likes and a comment from a sports team.

It’s a fun, mostly harmless trend. Though, it’s quite a lot of effort for a $70 video game. If your FYP is anything like mine, you’ve likely seen lots of these videos. And, to be fair, many people have seemingly hit their “goals.”

Hopefully, these folks will get their game. As someone preposterously excited about the drop, I want it for them.

There will undoubtedly be more online chatter about College Football 25, which is returning in a rebranded version after a long hiatus because of the thorny fact that NCAA athletes weren’t allowed to receive payment from the game. Yet, their image was used in the old product. Now, things have finally changed, and the game — by many considered the best sports video game of all time — is set to return in July.

There are other versions of this trend as well. Some people — mostly women — have asked their partners, mostly men, to buy them designer purses. Sure, these bags are far more expensive than a video game, but it’s still, at its core, the same thing.

In reality, this is all just engagement farming. It’s a low-effort way to get likes and comments. Sure, you might follow through on the game or the purse deal, but you almost certainly will get some likes.

I am sure that College Football 25 might not be released for another month, but the likes can flood in now.

• AI Household Waste Tracker uses GPT to tell you how to correctly dispose of trash
• IRS makes Direct File a permanent option