New Info for EA Sports College Football Video Game Coming Monday: Report
Outside of their announcement of the game’s eventual return nearly two years ago, there’s not been much information released on EA Sports’ new College Football video game.
According to 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello, that’s going to change on Monday as EA is expected to release an official update on the development — and potentially new images — of the fan-favorite video game.
“EA Sports is expected to release new details of the video game online to coincide with the College Football Playoff’s national championship between No. 1 Michigan (14-0) and No. 2 Washington (14-0) in Houston on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), sources said,” Marcello writes in his report.
It’s not clear if an official release date will be announced on Monday, although the game is expected to launch in the summer of 2024. Previous installments of EA Sports’ NCAA Football games have been released in mid-to-late- July, giving fans a pseudo-timeline to work with.
The scheduled release of information on the upcoming game follows EA Sports’ tradition of releasing sneak peeks of upcoming versions of the game following the BCS National Championship Game in the 2000s. If EA is going for nastolgia on this, they’re certainly pulling on the right heartstrings.
Marcello says Monday is expected to provide, “the first official sneak peek at the game after the publisher previously provided ESPN with a handful of screenshots and an exclusive interview with EA vice president Dary Holt in November 2022.”
There was angst among college football fans that the game’s development might be in turmoil after The BrandR Group filed a lawsuit against EA claiming tortious interference back in June. However, BrandR settled with OneTeam Partners in November and dropped the suit against EA Sports.
“We are pleased that BrandR has decided to withdraw their claims without any payment from EA,” an EA spokesperson said in a statement released Nov. 30 “We’ve been clear from the beginning that this suit had no merit. Our focus continues to be on directly licensing individual college athlete name and likeness rights through an opt-in program that will give college athletes the choice if they want to be in our game. We’re pleased to move on from these claims and look forward to delivering EA SPORTS College Football in Summer 2024.”
As far as the information that we do have on the game, fans can expect it to be built around the existing Madden engine, however, it will be a far-cry from a rebranded Madden game. Developers have spent countless hours to ensure that every program is presented uniquely, all the way down to fan traditions, gameday atmospheres, and stadium designs. Playbooks are expected to be team-specific, as they were in the past, and will be much more robust than what is seen in Madden.
Fans of EA Sports’ NCAA Football games in the past will be glad to know that EA Sports’ College Football will continue with the “Dynasty” and “Road to Glory” modes that made the previous installments so immersive. Other expected immersive features in the game included throwback uniforms, helmet stickers, team mascots, and ESPN personalities included in the game.
It’s also worth noting that there’s no longer a concern that several FBS schools would opt out of being in the game, as the expectation is now that most, “if not all” 118 FBS schools will be included in the game’s roster.
Fans of EA Sports’ College Football have just a few more months before the return of the best sports game of all time, and after more than a decade without it, there’s plenty of buzz around its return.
