EA's return to college football games coming in 2024
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) will return to its fan-favorite college football videogame series in 2024, after some heavy work tied to changes to the sport's legal landscape with regard to players' names, images and likenesses.
That's not a delay, the company says, though fan rumors had built hopes of an earlier release sometime in the coming year.
But the company is starting from scratch on the new game, EA Sports' Daryl Holt says.
As with several others in its sports lineup, EA produced an annual entry in its NCAA Football series until 2014, having launched it in 1993 (as Bill Walsh College Football; it was renamed NCAA Football in 1998).
That suspension came amid growing (and complicated) litigation over using the names, images and likenesses of amateur college players. The recent resolution of a number of NIL issues led EA to say it would bring the series back under the name EA Sports College Football.
Now, despite a number of remaining logistics, ESPN says players will be compensated if they appear in the game.
"If you look back on where we were talking in 2021, that road was blocked," Holt said. "I think I even said something to the fact that we were passengers on this journey, just like anyone else. Well, the road's open now, but it's still under construction."
A 2024 release is "the best date for us to bring the game that we think is going to meet or exceed our player expectations ... and cover the breadth and scale of what we want in the game. We're trying to build a very immersive college football experience."
So far there is "a host of FBS schools committed" to cooperate, Holt says, and the game has rights to all 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences as well as the College Football Playoff.