EA Sports created a buzz one simple announcement: College Football is coming back!
The company announced on Tuesday that they’re rebooting its college football game franchise. This time, though, it will be under a new name. Instead of carrying the NCAA Football title like before, the new series will be called EA Sports College Football. The last time EA Sports released a college football game was 2013, when Michigan’s Denard Robinson graced its cover. Reports state that they’re closely with the College Licensing Company (CLC). This is to secure the use of schools, mascots, stadiums, and names of 100+ schools in the FBS.
EA put the series on hold because of Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit against the NCAA. O’Bannon’s suit accused the NCAA of profiting off of the likenesses of its players. Though the game series never used the names of players, it was still easy to identify them.
In an interview with ESPN, EA Sports vice president and general manager Darryl Holt spoke on making sure the game returns with a strong product.
“Whether that’s a reimagining or an evolution of things that were in the game before or new things and new ways to play, I don’t want to get into the details of what we’re already planning and what we’ll put in that,” Holt said. “But it will be something that our core fans, if they appreciated and loved NCAA 14, they will love this game because that’s just the starting point.”
Under current NCAA’s current rules, EA Sports can’t offer compensation to any players.
Dates are pending for the new release.
Get in touch with Kory Woods at kory@woodwardsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @koryewoods.