EA Sports is coming back to college football.
After last making a college football game in 2013, the possibility that the game would return was in a limbo. Now it is not. Daryl Holt, vice president and general manager of EA Sports, told ESPN the game maker will return to space with EA Sports College Football.
“As we see the momentum we are building in sports, it all starts with the passion of our fans and the opportunities in which they are interested,” Holt said. “I do not think there is a visit where I go outside wearing a piece of EA Sports clothing that someone is not going to, ‘Hey, when’s college football coming back?’
It will – at some point. Holt said there is no date on which the match will return, or even a date on which the return will be announced, except that it will not return for this year.
To make the game happen, EA Sports has partnered with collegiate licensing firm CLC to make sure the FBS schools, traditions, uniforms and playbooks – among others – are ready to play. More than 100 teams will participate.
For now, EA Sports plans to continue without schedules that include the names, images or parables of real university players. Current NCAA rules prohibit athletes from selling their NIL rights while in college.
However, these rules are likely to be changed in the coming year – by the NCAA, state legislators or Congress. It is not yet clear whether the evolving rules will enable the kind of group licensing arrangements required for EA Sports to negotiate with athletes to use their names in the game.
Holt said EA Sports will monitor the NIL discussion if and when things change, but that it’s too early to happen. He also said what happens in the NIL legislation will not change whether the game happens or when it ends up on the boards.
“We will watch everything as it develops, and we will be ready,” Holt said. “It will not be a problem for us. But that really is not an answer for us to decide. We are just as many passengers as anyone else.
“So we make sure we deliver what our college footballers would want in a game. And it starts with a very immersive experience, and there are a lot of things we can do to bring the real college game and game day to the virtual level. world. ‘
Holt said EA Sports is still at the beginning of the game development process, building the team and deciding in which direction the game wants to go. Talks about bringing the game back began a year ago, Holt said, combining the company’s momentum with the technology he saw on next-generation platforms such as the Sony PS5 and Xbox Series X, reinforced his decision to return to space.
“What we had as plans for growth and expansion of our portfolio was always college football at the top of my list, personally with the Tiburon Studio where it was made,” Holt said. “So it was an easy conversation internally to say, ‘Here’s how we’ll approach it design-wise, and here’s how we can move it forward.’
“It’s been going on for a while and was certainly not ‘waiting to see what happens here’, even if continuation of legislation is proposed. It’s more about what we think we can do in the game and for we [game] players. ‘
The name of the game is one change from the previous iterations of the game. In previous versions of the game from 1997 to 2014, the title NCAA Football was used along with the year. Before that it was two years College Football USA, and in the first two years of the game Bill Walsh College Football.
Holt said the plan for the recharge is to not have the NCAA name, but only use the EA Sports College Football.
“It all starts where we see college football go. There are a lot of things that happen, and there are a lot of things that happen in sports,” Holt said. “EA Sports College Football gives us a name and a brand to work for a few things that can evolve, as well as what we really focus on outside the gate, this is actually the FBS Division I schools and the way to the College Football Playoff and college football championship.
“So, EA Sports College Football, we just feel like it’s the right name for the product, not just now, but also as we move forward.”
The game will, whenever it returns, be the first college football title since NCAA Football 2014, which had former Michigan full-back Denard Robinson on the cover.
ESPN reporter Dan Murphy contributed to this report.