Return of EA's NCAA Football

After more than a decade of waiting, it's back. The greatest sports video game of the 21st century, NCAA Football, has announced its glorious return, and will release less than two months from now.

Back in its hay-day, the game was a massive hit with sports fans. From 1993-2014, Electronic Arts, or EA, would release a new version of the game would release on an annual basis. The game offered specific game modes that no other sports game offered its players. Players had the ability to take over as the coach of their favorite college team and lead them to success. Or start their career as a high school athlete and go through the college recruitment process and then play for the university that offered a scholarship.

The game featured all the main division one conferences and teams and used accurate ratings for each team and position based on real-life teams and players. After the release of the 2014 edition of the game, a group of college athletes sued the developers over name, image, and likeness rights.

Back then, college athletes were not allowed to make any money based on their athlete or celebrity status. So, when these college athletes realized that EA was making money from their video game that based on college athlete's real-life performance, they had a bone to pick. After a quick court battle, EA settled the lawsuit and the game was pulled, along with the production of future versions of the game down the road.

The game remained off shelves for a decade, and people voiced their anger with the decision to stop production of the game. But, when the proposed NIL rules started to really look like a sure thing and players could potentially be allowed to make money off their name, image, and likeness, people began berating EA calls, letters, and emails begging for the return of their once loved game. There were rumors of a college football video game being in the works, but EA stayed quiet and didn't leave any hints. That was until February of 2021, when they announced their plan to bring the game back to life.

After a few years of development, EA has announced the final details and trailer for the new game. NCAA Football 25 will have serious implications on college football and how the NCAA secures and regulates the likeness and image of their college athletes. EA has already confirmed that all 134 division one FBS schools will be included in the video game. All scholarship athletes will be on their team's roster unless they opt out. This means that over 1000 players will be a part of the game.

EA also announced that each college athlete that opts into the game will receive $600, and a free copy of the game. This may seem like a slightly small amount considering some players like Shedeur Sanders are earing multiple millions every year through NIL deals. But, for over 1000 players, EA will be spending more than $6 Million to make sure everyone gets paid, which I think is super commendable, especially for a company with a reputation of being money grabbers on some of their other video games.

The game will benefit college athletes in more ways than just financial compensation too. As we know all too well, injuries happen, and in college it's next man up. So, if a non-scholarship player sees the field in any capacity whether it be due to a starter getting injured or an impressive game coming off the bench, EA will add their character to the team's official roster and create a player model for users to play with.

Overall, the game will also present athletes will a great way to promote themselves and their own brand. An example of this could be an athlete utilizing a platform such as YouTube, Twitch, or some other streaming website to create videos of them playing the game in ways that might showcase themselves in the virtual world. When the last NCAA Football game was out, the current college athletes were kids of the exact age of the video game's target audience. The majority of the players know the game well and are excited to play it and see themselves in a game they grew up playing.

The game's official release date is July 19th and will be compatible on PlayStation and Xbox X/S. I'm looking forward to it, and I can't wait to see the kind of reception that it gets from college football fans across the country. I just hope they bring back mascot mode - if you know you know.