This has absolutely nothing to do with LSU. Not yet, at least. But EA Sports has announced the return of a college football video game franchise, and that is sure to please college football fans of every school.
In one simple tweet, EA Sports set college football Twitter ablaze with a simple tease for a game tentatively called EA Sports College Football.
For those who never stopped believing… #EASPORTSCollegeFootball pic.twitter.com/ojDl9LzXuj
— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) February 2, 2021
Unfortunately, that is all the information we have available at this time. But there are a few quick takeaways we can have from this one tweet. The most noticeable revelation here is EA Sports has not included the NCAA branding in the name of its college football game. That may not be all too surprising given the legal issues that resulted in EA Sports shutting the popular video game franchise down following the release of NCAA Football ’14. But the times have changed and the door to bring a college football game back to the masses, while potentially allowing for players to be compensated in some form, has been opened in recent years.
Amid legal battles in court over licensing and issues related to player compensation, schools and conferences began backing out of the EA Sports franchise. It eventually reached a tipping point where EA made the decision to shut the entire video game franchise down and put it on the shelf for an undetermined amount of time.
So, how long must we wait to see the first college football video game since 2013? That remains to be seen. EA Sports vice president and general manager Daryl Holt told ESPN there is no confirmed outline for when we will see a college football video game on shelves and digitally available again, but EA Sports is committed to reviving the lost link in its sports library.
“Holt said there is not a date on when the game will return or even a date where the return will be announced other than it won’t be coming back for this year,” a report from ESPN’s Michael Rothstein says.
While that is a bummer, the crowd will be pleased to know the beloved video game franchise is set to return for next-generation hardware, including the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X. Nintendo Switch owners may have to cross their fingers if history is any indication.
Ok, what did the GameStop traders know and when?
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) February 2, 2021
There will be plenty of questions to answer regarding the new or revived franchise. And it looks as though we will have some time for EA to figure out just how it will go about this exciting project. A new College Football Playoff mode? Absolutely. An option to buy out your expensive defensive coordinator after a historically bad season? Why not?
In the meantime, you can still brush up on some NCAA Football ’14 on the PlayStation 3 if you want.
Good to know NCAA Football 14 had BCS controversy down. Like the FOURTH place team in the SEC West slotted to play for the national championship heading into the final weeks of the regular season… pic.twitter.com/qBKVxWof01
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) January 26, 2021