From EA Sports:
MORE: NCAA NIL rules, explained
The last college football video game that EA Sports released was NCAA Football 14 with Michigan’s Denard Robinson on the cover. It’s been almost eight years to the day since that game released, and fans have been begging for a new version ever since.
But EA Sports was forced to quit production of the game due to legal issues surrounding the game’s use of player likenesses. However, the company pivoted its intention with the game by announcing its return in February. Details were scarce at the time, but EA Sports said the new version of the game would not feature rosters or likenesses of college football franchises. Team names, stadiums and other features were expected to be licensed and included in the series.
However, with the latest NIL ruling, it seems as if there’s a potential now to include the likenesses of players. However, as their statement pointed out, it’s a little too early to know for sure how that would work.
The company has plenty of time to figure this out, though, as the game isn’t expected to be released for quite some time. A leaked document, obtained by Matt Brown of Extra Points, shows EA Sports plans to release the game in July 2023.
That gives EA Sports around two years to figure out the best practice in using player likeness in their game, assuming they do it at all.
