The second EA announced it was bringing back its college basketball series, I raised several important questions. With NBA Live dead through EA's own inability to keep it afloat, I wondered aloud where this pristine college basketball game was going to come from.
As EA moved ahead with its plans, it found most college teams of importance had already signed with 2K Sports, the company that still makes basketball sims. EA then had to announce that it would not be making a college basketball game, one of the most embarrassing things I've seen happen to a major publisher in a while.
I'm not writing this post just to take a victory lap, but I'm going to make sure that I do. After more than 20 years of doing this, I've seen a few of those storylines before. Even a company the size of EA is only as good as its last project in the space. That was the supremely disappointing NBA Live franchise, and there's no guarantee EA would deliver a better product this time around. Meanwhile, NBA 2K has dominated the space, the conversation, and all the billions being made on basketball sims.
This is a case where I'm a little sad to have been right. 2K's college basketball effort looks like another monopoly, and the sports game industry doesn't need another one of those. NBA 2K is the only licensed basketball sim. Madden and the NFL are poised to extend their exclusive partnership. MLB The Show is the only licensed baseball game on consoles.
I'm old enough to remember when we had multiple companies making basketball, football, and baseball games that were all really good. Both EA and 2K moved when an opportunity arose, but EA's recent history was too much to overcome. 2K's basketball monopoly just grew infinitely more powerful.
It's worth mentioning that it was EA's March Madness series that opened the floodgates for the NIL world we now live in. College star Ed O' Bannon saw himself in March Madness and was shocked to find he didn't get a penny from that. His lawsuit led to a whole new world for college athletes, in which they share the profits they make huge corporations such as EA and 2K.
The athletes, at least, are winners that a new college basketball game is coming. And who am I kidding, I'm gonna play it. I love me some pro basketball, but just like with football, there is something special about the pageantry of the college game. You're up, 2K. Don't miss this easy layup.