EA Sports is bringing college football back to video games, but when?

When I wrote a story last year about the chance of EA Sports bringing back their “NCAA Football” series, I didn’t expect anything to come of it, but to my surprise, the game is coming back, and a lot of people are excited for it, including me.

Having waited for a game like this to come out for a couple years, it is a great joy to see that progress is being made and that the company has finally listened to their fans after all these years.

The last of these college football games was released in 2013. “NCAA Football 14” became a classic just because one didn’t come out after that.

Expect a change to the name. The new title of the game is called “EA Sports College Football” which will feature more than 100 colleges as of this writing.

Obviously, I think the name change is due in part to the fact that the last time EA Sports brought college football to screens was in 2013, and it would be awkward to pick that back up almost ten years later.

For now, don’t expect any real college football players, including their names, likeness, and images. I would love to play as some of my favorite college players, and I could especially see college players wanting to play themselves, but currently the NCAA prohibits players from using their name, image, and likeness for any monetary profit.

As exciting as this announcement may sound for college football fans around the world, it was confirmed that the game would not see a 2021 release. 

It’s unknown when the return date will be announced, but what is known is that college football will be coming back to play, and who wouldn’t be excited about that?

Reception of the announcement on the @EASPORTSCollege Twitter account for the new game was mostly positive, seeing the return of a game loved by many.

What didn’t bring so much positivity was the tweet coming after the original announcement, saying “We look forward to sharing more information as development progresses in the next couple of years.”

Finding out about that really upset me; I would’ve assumed the game was secretly in development and a release date was soon to be revealed. 

It looks like this announcement was telling people the studio was just in the beginning stage of making the game. The whole announcement overall felt vague but it still brings hope for the future.

My story in 2019 said that fans could see the return of this game by late 2024, so what many are wondering is, what do the developers mean by “next couple of years”? Two, three, four?

For now, I still have “NCAA Football 14” and of course, modifications can be added to “Madden 21” to simulate college football.

Also, “Madden 21” still has its “face of the franchise” game mode, which allows the player to play for a select few of their favorite college teams, even though it doesn’t include any player names, just team logos and uniforms in a story-like scenario where the player goes from high school football to the National Football League.

In time, I hope that this story will become irrelevant and the game gets released sooner than expected, but if I have to keep waiting to get the best game they can possibly create, I will.

I’ve already waited eight years. I can wait a few more.