College football fans have been without an officially licensed college football game for almost a full decade, but it looks as though Electronic Arts is hoping to end that drought a year from now.
According to information obtained through a FOIA request by Matt Brown, the author of the “Extra Points” college football newsletter, progress is being made on the anticipated revival of the dormant video game franchise. Multiple requests for information regarding the release date of the video game from developer EA Sports suggest on multiple accounts the game is being targeted for a summer 2023 release.
A summer release date for a college football video game would fall in line with the usual release window for previous college football titles produced by EA Sports. The college football game was traditionally released about a month prior to the release of EA Sports’ latest installment in the popular Madden NFL franchise. No matter when the game is ultimately released, college football fans with a modern video game console will be ready to dive right back into the action.
EA Sports announced the return to a college football video game franchise in February 2021 with a new working title of EA Sports College Football. The former NCAA Football franchise was put on the shelf as a result of the rising concerns over the handling of name, image, and likeness and lawsuits tied to the legal issues tied to them. But all of that is now a thing of the past thanks to the modern NIL era in college athletics.
Once it became possible for student-athletes to begin cashing in on their name, image, and likeness, it was believed to only be a matter of time before EA Sports returned to creating a college football video game. There may be more concerns and obligations tied to creating such a game now than ever before, but EA Sports is reportedly reaching out to schools to begin the work regarding rights to music and audio to create the authentic college game day experience.
From Brown;
This ask suggests that beyond marching bands, EA Sports is seeking to recreate the stadium experience as closely as possible for each school. So, hypothetically, if your alma mater played a specific song at the end of the third quarter, well, EA is trying to add that (if copyright allows for it) into the game. If your student section has a specific chant, well, EA is trying to get everything they need to replicate it.
There is a valuable market space to be seized with a college football game for a servant fanbase that has been playing the same version of the game for nearly a decade on a Sony PlayStation 3. For some, it is the only reason to still own a PS3!
If nothing else, old versions of NCAA Football 14 are warm reminders of BCS controversy possibilities of the past.
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
Are you looking forward to EA Sports College Football when it is officially released? What system will you be playing on?
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