By: Gus Wilson

Electronic Arts (EA) Sports has not made a college football video game since 2014, when they created NCAA Football 14, a college football video game similar to John Madden’s with all real teams and players. Football and video game fans have been begging for this game to return one day, but with states and the NCAA still not passing the laws to allow college athletes to get paid for their name and likeness, preventing any creation of the game, it seemed like it would never happen. But, on February 2nd of 2021, EA Sports posted a photo titled “College Football is coming back” with their logo and COLLEGE FOOTBALL next to it.

This was amazing news for football fans all around the world. The new game will be coming out for next generation consoles, so Xbox One/PS4 and any console better than those as well. NCAA Football 14 is only available on Xbox 360, and to this day people are still trying to purchase the game. Currently, NCAA Football 14 is available, for all the diehards, on Amazon for more than 200 dollars.

Many current NFL players gave their opinion of the game being announced. Two such players are Heisman winners Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow. Murray tweeted “Put a real one on the cover!”, in a way asking to be on the cover of the game when it finally releases in the near future. However, not all the reactions are positive. Burrow also tweeted, “All I ever wanted was to be on the cover of this game and as soon as I graduate they bring it back.”

As the excitement was dying down, EA made an official statement about some game details. Sadly, they announced, “We look forward to sharing more information as development progresses in the next couple of years.” It was reported that they have partnered with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) which allows them to legally use over 100 real teams, real team playbooks, real school traditions, and real uniforms. For the players however, they announced they are not going to have real rosters due to athletes not being paid for their name or likeness. The game won’t come out for a few years, so if these laws change for every state, they will legally be able to have real rosters and real rosters.

This announcement came out of nowhere and set social media on fire. When NCAA College Football releases, it is guaranteed to make an incredible amount of money in sales. While it will be a couple of years before the game officially releases, at least fans now know it is on it’s way.