JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – EA Sports’ long-dormant college football video game is right around the corner from a comeback.
Sources told David Waters of Gators Breakdown that EA Sports would release its college football game on July 12, ending an 11-year absence of the game from the market.
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🚨SOURCES: EA Sports College Football planned to launch on July 12, 2024🚨 pic.twitter.com/dnEW9hJuGq
— David Waters - Gators Breakdown (@GatorDave_SEC) January 16, 2024
Matt Brown, publisher of the newsletter, Extra Points, said his sources at EA Sports wouldn’t confirm or deny the July 12 date. John Reseburg, vice president of global marketing, communications and partnerships for EA Sports, said in response to a post about the game that no specific date has been released.
“This is correct - we’ve said it’s coming this summer, and we’ve not announced a specific date,” Reseburg posted on X.
The popular college football video game was last released as NCAA ‘14 in the summer of 2013. EA Sports stopped producing the game after a lawsuit by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon, who was at the forefront of a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA. EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company were also named as co-defendants.
EA Sports essentially created rosters without the names of players but put their attributes and jersey numbers in the game that all but identified them. EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company settled with O’Bannon for $40 million that was dispersed to class-action members. Even with that settlement, EA Sports didn’t pick the game back up due to the NCAA not permitting players to be compensated for their name, image and likeness.
The absence of the game since 2013 has created a massive secondary market for the last version, with the 2014 game sometimes going for hundreds of dollars on places like Ebay.