I have mixed opinions about NIL and its potentially devastating impacts on the college football landscape, but one thing that it’s bringing that makes the lunacy worthwhile is the return of a legend: the EA Sports College Football franchise.
I’m sure most people reading this are already familiar with the series and its imminent return, however, as a quick refresher, EA Sports used to put out a yearly college football game, but stopped after NCAA 14 due to issues with lawsuits regarding student-athletes not being able to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Now that NIL deals are allowed, the game can come back.
Now you may be wondering, “But Jack from A2Z Sports! The old game didn’t even use the players’ names or pictures! Why would EA Sports have to stop?” The issue with likeness is pretty hard to overcome when Texas A&M QB #2 is a 99 overall, no matter what randomly generated name they gave him. Rather than fight the lawsuits, they just stopped producing the game.
Now that it’s back, I’ll be sharing some of my quick thoughts about it, beyond just a general excitement for the game.
Don’t be Madden
Listen, I grew up playing Madden, and I love Madden. I have Madden 09 on the Wii, Peyton Hillis Madden 12 and Madden 15 (my favorite) on the 360, and Madden 20 on Xbox One. I’m not an every year guy (nor do I want to be; I think the updates on a year to year basis aren’t significant outside of the roster). The last game I bought was 20, and I had my problems with it, and based on what I’ve heard, the game still isn’t as good as it should be. Online, players become reliant on spamming the same cheap plays over and over, gameplay is rooted in the same ridiculous animations and abilities that make the game play in an almost cartoonish way, and gamemodes like franchise get less attention from the developers than the micro-transaction heavy cash cow that is Ultimate Team.
The college game has so much potential. If they do right by it, they could make a beloved, solid football game. That’s what NCAA 14 was, and people are still paying for and playing that game. If they skimp out on the “franchise”/dynasty gamemode, it would be a travesty. That’s easily the best part of the game. It needs to be great. If the game is just a shiny Madden reskin, it would be a massive shame.
Arch Manning. Why?
I don’t have a ton to say about this one, but apparently Arch Manning is going to opt out of being in the game, using the excuse of “focusing on the season” or something.
That is so stupid.
Opting in would likely just take signing a piece of paper at most. Is he implying that him being in the game will make him unable to stop playing the game as himself (actually I’d have the same problem, so I won’t hate on that)?
Or is he using a dumb excuse to try and pressure for more money? If that’s the case:
- You’re getting $600 and a copy of the game for free. That’s awesome. Just being in the game is probably enough for a lot of players, and the other perks are just an added bonus.
- The game will be fine without you. He’s a big name and an exciting prospect, but he’s not even the starting quarterback on his team. It would be too bad to not have him, but it would be no biggie.
Come on Arch. Figure it out. What a ridiculous move.
Put in FCS Teams
Alright. You got me. I went to an FCS school. It is Division 1, though, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But come on, it’d be awesome.
Imagine… you’re in your fourth year of coaching Colgate. After 3 years of beating up on the Patriot League in high school equivalent stadiums, you decide it’s time for the ACC. You take down local rival Syracuse, get on a roll against Pitt, BC, and even Clemson in Death Valley. Here comes Colgate to the ACC Championship against Florida State. As is tradition, Florida State misses the playoff, as they can’t handle the hard-nosed play of Colgate. Colgate to the Playoff! You roll over Texas and Ohio State with ease, meeting the Saban-less Alabama in the National Championship. You’re confident; after all, Kalen DeBoer has never beaten Colgate. It’s tied at 21 with 3 seconds left. You line up the field goal. Your kicker was a 0-star prospect that you stole as a walk-on from an intramural soccer team because you spent all your recruiting points on your one 5-star player (your running back, who has 2,456 all-purpose yards). The kick is up… and it’s good! And so starts a dynasty of 3 more years of undefeated national championship seasons. Storybook.
Now it’s already been said that FCS schools won’t be in the game at launch, but I hope they add them later. We wouldn’t want to rob the American people of such a beautiful fantasy.
More NCAA Sports Games
Hopefully this game becomes a massive success and opens the floodgates for college sports games. There is a market for them, and with NIL putting the games in play, much of the restrictions towards making these games have been lifted. In particular, I’d like to see a basketball game and a hockey game.
For basketball, maybe 2K could make a game, but there’s a big opportunity for EA here. With them having been pushed out of the NBA space, they can re-enter the basketball market through college basketball and attract basketball gamers and corner a new market. I could see this happening in the near future.
For hockey, maybe 2K could re-enter the hockey market, but with hockey being a smaller sport, what makes a lot of sense to me is EA adding NCAA Division 1 to their existing NHL titles. They already have a robust selection of minor, junior, and foreign leagues, and recently added women to the game, so I see no reason that EA can’t add college hockey. After all, there are only 64 teams in Division 1, and there are plenty of fans. In fact, it’s a revenue sport at a bunch of schools, which most college sports aren’t. Although I don’t know how much interest EA has in this, it seems like a no brainer. I hope they consider it.
The future of sports gaming is exciting, and it all starts with College Football 25 in a couple months. I’m looking forward to it, and so is America. It’s time to create some new virtual dynasties.