It appears that the ending of the agreement between EA Sports and the NCAA caused a premature panic about the future of college football games. EA released the following statement on Wednesday evening:
By now, most fans will have heard that EA’s licensing agreement with the NCAA is set to expire and that we have agreed to part ways. I’m sure gamers are wondering what this means.
This is simple: EA SPORTS will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and marks. Our relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company is strong and we are already working on a new game for next generation consoles which will launch next year and feature the college teams, leagues and all the innovation fans expect from EA SPORTS.
We took big creative strides with this year’s college game and you’ll see much more in the future. We love college football and look forward to making more games for our fans.
So how is all of this possible? The Collegiate Licensing Company is the licensing agreement with all of the college football teams. Bowl games, Conferences, and ESPN also have separate licensing agreements from the NCAA’s agreement with EA Sports. So what changes? Right now it appears that the changes will only be cosmetic. As in the game can’t be called NCAA Football 15, but could be called College Football 15. The game also wouldn’t be able to have any of the NCAA’s logos anywhere or the NCAA records. Meaning the entire game, theoretically, should remain untouched presentation wise except for the removal of anything that says NCAA. But, if the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit goes sideways on EA Sports, you can guarantee the games will stop.
