Is This The End of College Football Video Games? No, Not Yet - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

Is This The End of College Football Video Games? No, Not Yet Stuck

Posted on August 14, 2013 at 04:19 PM.

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In case you haven't read it, three of the most lucrative college conferences are ending their licensing deals with EA Sports.

Today's news sounds worse than it is, as conferences (like the NCAA) have only a small role within the game. However, unlike when the NCAA removed itself from the game there are tangible items which will now be missing within the game as conferences play a much bigger role in the sport.

As we enter a new generation of consoles, and with sports games expected to take major leaps forward in authenticity and detail, College Football titles from EA Sports will seemingly be taking a step back in at least one key area of authenticity: the conferences which make up the sport won't be included in the game.

Generic conferences have a totally logical and easy workaround with a simple renaming option within custom conferences of conference names (and perhaps the ability to upload custom conference logos). However, losing the conferences does serve to make the foundations of the title that much more uneasy.

As of this writing, no schools have officially announced they are backing out of the series, and thus far there is no sign that will occur. Both the CLC and member conferences have said it is up to individual member schools to determine if they want to be involved within future EA Sports college games, passing the buck as it will to universities.

What today's news really does is that schools have now saw the NCAA and the conferences they are a part of looking at the current climate given ongoing litigation and saying, "Yeah that's not for us."

You are kidding yourself if an administrator in Gainesville, Columbus, or Berkely isn't now asking, "Is this a deal that we should be a part of?"

Despite all assurances the three year EA Sports and CLC agreement seemed to bring, schools could conceivably back out of the game by simply saying so.

It's not like schools haven't made far bigger breaks in existing contracts in the name of financial gain.

Schools are now in a climate where they have to re-evaluate the benefits of being in a video game with impending legal pressures all while the other elements of their sport jump ship. It seems a climate which isn't exactly conducive to stability.

Historically, generic sports games have sold far, far less than their licensed counterparts. Any attempt by EA to take college football games down that path given school defections will see stagnating or falling sales over time if that history is any indication. EA is very unlikely to develop a non-licensed college football game on next-gen consoles, where development costs will be much higher and return on investment will be far smaller.

There are alternatives to this future, and with the changing landscape of college athletics including a Division 4 which will likely pay athletes and the possible rise of a subscription model for sports games instead of an annual one. The end of College Football games is far from certain, but a temporary pause is at least becoming more likely as these marketplace transitions continue.

For now, we are left with an extreme feeling of unease.

It is likely we will have a College Football title next year from EA Sports with member schools, but as litigation in the O'Bannon case continues -- there is no guarantee that schools will not begin to back out at any point beginning now.

So long as schools stay on board, the EA Sports college football product has a viable future. But it's when those schools begin to reconsider that we find the series has a troubling future.

While that used to be a very fringe type of possibility, it's now something which you have to consider as viable, which is the most troubling thing of all for college video game fans.

Comments

# 16 GreatScot @ Aug 15

This all comes down to the schools themselves. If they go, the game is dead, end of discussion. If they stay, it's not that difficult to have generic conferences without losing authenticity. Perhaps losing the NCAA license could be a good thing short term since it would give more creative flow and ability to change options for postseason (custom tournaments to decide the NCAA title anyone?), but the public at large won't take the time to edit school names and logos as well as conferences, even though the hard-core players still might.

# 17 tarek @ Aug 15

I want to ask again if anyone can explain HOW schools use the money they earn from their respective sports teams? Whilst comment #10 made the point (as others have backed up) that student-athletes should be compensated (financially) for their services won't this completely change the landscape NOT JUST of NCAA sports but of universities in TOTAL?
My wife teaches as university, I have a work colleague who used to be part of a systems engineering research program at a Melbourne university. Applying for government/university research grants is difficult and competitive. If you don't perform, get published, product something tangible you face the risk of getting funding pulled and your research getting shut down.
If NCAA schools are using income generated from sporting events as reinvestment into their schools, or to pay highly qualified professors to continue to teach or conduct research, then by shifting the balance and paying student-athletes could have a trickle effect that nobody seems to consider (or want to consider).
For the record, I think student-athletes should probably get paid a stipend whilst at college, which should be factored in by age/year. E.g. a freshman might get $30K which increases annually so a senior might get $60k.
But is this what this lawsuit is all about? Is it designed to pay students or to provide funding for those students who suffer career ending injuries whilst being unpaid student-athletes? If it's about a general agreement to provide a level of compensation (regulated) to student-athletes, then fine. If it's about student-athletes getting 'paid' based on the income they generate, then that's going to lead to some big unintended consequences down the road.

# 18 maltliquor23 @ Aug 15

I noted the education. It seems people read what they want. Would you like to get your food and housing comped to do your job and not have money for anything else?

# 19 The_Gaming_Disciple @ Aug 15

The divided responses concerning this situation are indicative of our society. Those individuals who are siding with the athletes have the mindset of O'Bannon and Keller. They believe that it is okay to "legally" agree to something, and then determine that later they want to change their mind and everyone should just deal with it. All athletes agree to terms and conditions. It's no different than the terms of facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. You agree to the terms, if you do not want to agree don't sign the line. The precedent that is being set, is that people can agree to something and then change their mind when they feel the situation no longer benefits them. We as a society are truly losing our moral compass. Shame on you O'Bannon and Keller. You made a decision way back when, man up and deal with it. Unfortunately, you are taking your frustration out on others and ruining their gaming experience because you were a bust, a major "BUST"...

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