There was much optimism among the American football community earlier this year when EA Sports announced that it’s working on an all-new College Football game for the PlayStation 5. However, documentation obtained from the Collegiate Licensing Company pegs a proposed July 2023 release window for the title, meaning you’ve got a long wait ahead of you.
When the game was announced in early February, the publisher admitted that it was “just getting started” with the project, so it’s hardly surprising that the release is at least two years away. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as without the strict annual cycle that the Madden NFL games are required to adhere to, there’s hope that the organisation can spend a little time evolving its simulation.
The title will feature over 100 real-life teams, and their official logos, stadiums, uniforms, and game day traditions. There won’t be any real-life players, however, due to ongoing litigation involving the NCAA. That could, obviously, change prior to launch – and EA Sports has said it’s open to that – but for now it’s basing the game on its colleges rather than its players.
One iconic school that won’t be included is Notre Dame, as it released a statement recently explaining that it will not “participate in the game until […] rules have been finalised governing the participation of our student-athletes”. That’s obviously a huge loss for EA Sports College Football, but as alluded to earlier in the article, the publisher has a good couple of years to tidy up any licensing woes.
[source twitter.com, via gamespot.com, gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 13
No surprise there.
Will be interesting to see how they separate it from the Madden model.
Especially considering EA are leaving their games with their developers and letting them implement their own visions now....supposedly
I wonder if we’ll see a game from the rumoured cfl/xfl merger...if it happens.
Pardon my ignorance - what would be the main differences between this and other football games, gameplay wise?
@Voltan I’m no expert, but there are some important differences in rules, such as how overtime is handled, and college ball has a lot more teams with much larger rosters. I would imagine the game overall would have a much different vibe than an NFL game.
They could have done it with user made teams and players and it would have sold epic numbers - we just want the college atmosphere, recruiting and ranking system - they are so blind - no one cares about existing players, they graduate or go pro after a few years anyways - its the dynasty of creating your own team
Hands up UK readers who have no idea what this is. Happy for you American folk though!
@itsfoz its like English football having multiple leagues and being able to take a small club and advance through the leagues - college offers us 100+ schools to improve and eventually make it big against the best. You also only get the players for 4 years (seasons) so you always need to be recruiting and planning your team accordingly. Home field advantage is also HUGE in college and earlier college games made it much more difficult to do things on the road versus at home.
@DrJames Ah I see - love the idea you lose them over 4 years and the home advantage. Quite a cool concept. Appreciate the explanation too!
That should give Eli time to work his way up the ranks, maybe work himself into the game as a color commentator or something.
https://twitter.com/EliManning/status/1368979441876164620?s=20
@itsfoz anytime, NCAA (College) Football is one of the greatest sports games ever for a lot of players - its brilliant
@Voltan So, this is a loaded question. Haha. In earlier iterations, there were quizzes that affected your GPA and thus your eligibility. You also had to manage your time between being a good teammate, a good student and a social member of your campus. That has all since been dumped as the veneer of college sports being something other than feeder systems for American pro sports has faded. On a franchise or dynasty scale, as they said before, you have over 100 possible teams, with full roster turnover every 5 seasons.
The comment about Notre Dame is funny because if they stay out it only hurts them and their alumni. ND's influence continues to decline as they become just another ACC team, on par with NC State and Wake Forest. Enjoy South Bend!
And now we are expecting a release in 2024. I'll probably finish my college before this game comes out. But at least I play on the college football team, so I don't have much time to play games. In order to attend my workouts and keep up with my studies, I use the https://edubirdie.com/college-papers-for-sale service in order to relieve myself of the burden of homework. I'm glad I found this site, it's the best learning hack for me right now.
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