EA Sports College Football is bringing back NCAA football

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But EA's new College Football game won't use player likenesses

EA Sports College Football
(Image credit: EA)

Madden NFL developer EA has announced it's making a new college football game.

EA's last college football game was released all the way back in 2013, but now, as you can see in the announcement below, it's making a comeback. Right now, we know precious little about the return of the series, but it would appear the game is currently operating under the name of EA Sports College Football.

"As we look for the momentum that we're building on in sports, it all starts with the passion of our fans and the opportunities of what they are interested in," EA Sports vice president Daryl Holt said in a statement to ESPN. "I don't think there's a visit where I go outside wearing a piece of EA Sports-branded apparel that someone doesn't go, 'Hey, when is college football coming back?'"

The new EA sports college football game won't be coming back this year in 2021. In fact, EA hasn't even said when it's ready to announce further details about the forthcoming game. However, EA is planning on moving forward with the game without rosters that include the names, likenesses, or images of real-life college football players.

This could be changing in the very near future, however. Currently, the NCAA prohibits players from selling their likeness or image while in college, but that could be about to change thanks to planned legislation in Congress. Shortly after the announcement of EA Sports College Football, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy said that he planned on introducing legislation "to help players finally profit off their talent so they don't need to face continued mistreatment like this."

Holt tells ESPN that the team at EA will be keeping a close eye on the ruling on the planned legislation. "We'll just keep tabs on everything as it develops, and we'll be ready," he said. "That won't be a problem for us. But it's really, that's not an answer for us right now to decide. We're as much passengers as anyone else."

Right now, we'll have to keep waiting for more information surrounding EA Sports College Football. This will be the first planned NCAA-centric football game since NCAA Football 2014, which put Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on the cover.

For our list of all the games currently set to launch over the coming year and beyond, head over to our new games 2021 guide for more.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.