EA Sports announces the return of NCAA Football video game series

EA Sports broke the internet with their announcement on Tuesday. The video game developer/publisher announced that they are set to revive their NCAA Football franchise after nearly 8 years.

The most recent NCAA Football game is NCAA Football 14 which was released back in July of 2013. Since then no new NCAA Football game has been released.

The beloved football franchise was discontinued because of legal issues over player likeness. In the years since, the NCAA has reviewed its policy regarding paying players for their likeness. While progress on the front had been made, there were always hurdles to clear as it pertains to using a player’s likeness in video games.

NCAA Football has since then has become so popular and so loved that it is being sold at GameStop for $69.99 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The price is higher now than it was on the release date. That is how much people loved that video game.

EA Sports released a picture on their official Twitter page announcing the big news.

For those who never stopped believing...#EASPORTSCollegeFootball pic.twitter.com/2vDUYnbXEJ
— EA SPORTS (@EASPORTS) February 2, 2021

If you were one of the people who never stopped believing in the potential return, well props to you all. It is indeed finally happening and fans of the franchise could not be more excited.

The game is currently in development and the team is working on uniforms, playbooks, stadiums, etc. Another thing EA Sports confirmed for the brand new NCAA Football game is the number of teams that the game will feature. EA Sports Vice President and General Manager Daryl Holt said there will be over 100 teams in the game.

But while you can represent your favorite school in the game, it appears that there are still issues with player likenesses being used. As a result, the new NCAA Football games, at least for the time being, will not include student-athlete names, images and likenesses. That said, it will be interesting to see if they allow user-generated rosters because if so, then users could just create authentic rosters. I imagine this could provide some legal issues for EA though. In any case, the studio is “closely” watching how player likeness issues work out with the NCAA.

Another thing that should be noted is that this new game will be released on next-gen consoles (which means PS5 and Xbox Series X|S). This should make for a very beautiful game visually and will potentially be the nest NCAA Football game in the franchise.

There is a lot of pressure on EA Sports to get this game right. After the big news on the franchise making a return, the last thing EA Sports can afford is for the new NCAA Football game to completely flop.

We don’t know when this new NCAA Football game will be released. EA only noted: “Development of EA SPORTS College Football is just underway, with launch timing still to come as the project progresses in the years ahead.”

Given that the project is just underway, a 2021 launch seems unlikely. Based on how long it will take to get everything sorted out for legal purposes and getting everything added into the game, I would have to guess 2022 or even early 2023. While that news may seem a little disappointing, it can be less disappointing knowing that there is a game in development and that the longer it takes for them to release, the better the game should be. I would hate for EA Sports to rush out such a highly anticipated game.

Hot. We need a NCAA Football game now more than ever. light

NCAA Football: EA shocks the world with the return of college football video game series

By Frank Mueller | Feb 2, 2021