Electronic Arts announced today that it will be making college football video games again. EA is working with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a well-known licensing partner for many schools, to secure the use of over 100 teams in the FBS, including the stadiums, mascots, and uniforms used by these institutions.
EA Sports College Football is currently in the works and still very early in its development cycle, with no launch window currently revealed yet. More importantly, EA Sports College Football won’t use any real names or players’ likenesses.
The NCAA currently forbids student-athletes to profit from their name, image and licensing rights. As such, the game won’t feature actual student-athletes, but EA Sports “is continuing to watch those developments closely.” Players on the College Football rosters will have randomized names, uniform numbers and stats, and the game will include customization options.
Through a partnership with collegiate trademark licensing company CLC, EA Sports has secured access to the logos, stadiums, uniforms and gameday traditions of more than 100 institutions, so there’ll be some degree of authenticity. EA has only just started work on College Football and noted that word of a release timeline is “still to come as the project progresses in the years ahead.”
