EA Sports College Football video game set for 2024 release
EA Sports announced that its popular college football video game is set to return in the summer of 2024 after an absence of 11 years.
The gaming company is effectively starting from scratch to make the game instead of using the coding from the Madden NFL games or merely trying to build off the previous 2014 version of the game.
"That's the best date for us to bring the game that we think is going to meet or exceed our player expectations," EA Sports general manager Daryl Holt said, via ESPN.
"And cover the breadth and scale of what we want in the game. We're trying to build a very immersive college football experience."
Reports previously said that EA Sports would unveil its college football game in 2023, but Holt said that belief was all speculation.
In a letter revealed by Matt Brown of Extra Points, the marketing group CLC addressed the change in the game's timeline to athletic departments across the country.
"While many expected 2023, EA Sports explains that this is necessary to ensure that their development team can build the best college game possible with the detail and the gameplay that they are known for delivering to fans," CLC president of business development Dave Kirkpatrick wrote.
One important part of the new game's development is the creation of NIL rules across college football.
The original NCAA '14 game was halted after the O'Bannon v. NCAA Supreme Court ruling caused EA Sports and the NCAA to end their relationship after EA Sports was forced to pay class-action compensation to athletes who were not compensated for being in the game.
The updated NIL guidelines allowed for compensation in July 2021.
ESPN is reporting that players whose likeness appears in the new game will be compensated by EA Sports.
(ESPN)
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