Rejoice: EA Sports is Bringing Back the College Football Video Game
By Liam McKeone
The NCAA Football video game franchise was much-beloved by a particular niche of fans who loved college football and video games in equal measure. Since that is not a particularly large niche compared to, say, fans who love professional football and video games, EA Sports discontinued the franchise after they released the 2014 edition.
Thus, the last six years have been lacking the light of college football video games with no competitors stepping up to try and secure NCAA rights to make another one. It was a sad six years.
The sad times are over, folks. Not the sad times we currently live in, mind you, but specifically the sad times of not having a college football video game. Because EA Sports just dropped an announcement. An announcement that they're bringing it back, baby. Sort of.
For those who never stopped believing...#EASPORTSCollegeFootball pic.twitter.com/2vDUYnbXEJ
— EA SPORTS (@EASPORTS) February 2, 2021
EA puts out a lot of great games but are so big at this point they're basically the SkyNet of the video game industry. I, for one, refused to let myself have the false hope that they are actually giving the people what they want. When it comes to EA, if it's too good to be true, it almost always is.
It appears they are, given the SportsCenter account said so in straightforward terms. If ESPN has the confirmation, it is more than likely true, with the added detail that it's for next-generation consoles.
Breaking: EA Sports is rebooting its college football series for Next Generation consoles.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 2, 2021
The announcement ends the hiatus that the game has taken since then-Michigan QB Denard Robinson appeared on the cover of NCAA Football 14. pic.twitter.com/rMniJUDDeW
This appears to be technically not a continuation of the NCAA franchise. It's simply being billed as EA Sports College Football. ESPN has more details:
"To make the game happen, EA Sports partnered with collegiate licensing company CLC to make sure they had the FBS schools, traditions, uniforms and playbooks -- among other things -- ready to go for the game. Over 100 teams will be in the game. For now, EA Sports is planning to move forward without rosters that include the names, images or likenesses of real college players. Current NCAA rules prohibit athletes from selling their NIL rights while in college."
Regardless: Hooray! Now we don't have to settle for watching Barstool Big Cat bounce around as Coach Duggs if we want our college football gaming appetite satisfied. We can all be our own Coach Duggs.