EA Sports just announced some big news regarding the release of its highly-anticipated college football video game. The company recently told ESPN that EA Sports College Football will be released in the summer of 2024 instead of the summer of 2023. EA Sports vice president and general manager Daryl Holt said the reason for the change is the time that it takes of creating the game from scratch.
“That’s the best date for us to bring the game that we think is going to meet or exceed our player expectations,” Holt said. “And cover the breadth and scale of what we want in the game. We’re trying to build a very immersive college football experience.”
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One of the things EA Sports is dealing with is figuring out a way to use real college football players in the game. With the addition of name, image and likeness (NIL) in college athletics, EA Sports is working out how players will be compensated if they are in the game. “If you look back on where we were talking in 2021, that road was blocked,” Holt said. “I think I even said something to the fact that we were passengers on this journey, just like anyone else. Well, the road’s open now, but it’s still under construction.”
Along with securing college football players for EA Sports College Football, another issue is getting all 131 FBS schools on board. EA Sports has partnered with CLC to secure the rights to FBS schools, uniforms, stadiums and other football traditions. EA Sports College Football will have at least 120 schools in the game, but some programs are still on the fence, specifically Notre Dame who said the team won’t be in the game if players don’t benefit from NIL. The game has secured the rights to all 10 FBS conferences and the College Football Playoff.
“We expect more will join, but we can only commit to what we have got in the hopper right now,” Holt said. “And we’ll have more information to share as we move forward along that evolving landscape. But we’ll put as many schools as we possibly can put into the game.” The last college football game EA Sports produced with NCAA Football ’14. The video game series began in 1993 with Bill Wash College Football.
