NCAA Football's Cancellation an Unfortunate Series of Events - RaychelSnr's Blog

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NCAA Football's Cancellation an Unfortunate Series of Events Stuck

Posted on September 27, 2013 at 10:23 AM.

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I was so excited.

All good love stories have to start somewhere. Mine started in the summer of 1998, just before the college football season kicked off -- that day my parents brought home to me a game called NCAA Football 99.

It was after receiving that game that I found a message board community about the game, people passionately talking about how to run the option and how to scheme offenses. In a strange sort of way, my love affair with sports gaming and this community began with that single NCAA Football game and continued to grow for the last decade plus.

No one wins with the cancellation of the NCAA Football series.

Gamers certainly don't, with one less sports gaming option than before. EA doesn't, with a source of profit now gone. Colleges and Universities don't, with a source of income (no matter how small) and a great advertising tool gone. College football certainly doesn't, as a gateway for millions of fans into the game is now no longer available. The developers don't even begin to see positives, as many are going to find they don't have places within EA in the coming weeks and months.

The only people who might have won something yesterday, the only people who might've gotten a victory would be the people making shareholders happy at EA.

I have been told and had the story corroborated with others that the media and fans of NCAA knew before much of the NCAA team did that the work they were doing on next year's college football game just before a late-afternoon meeting was all for naught.

Some on the NCAA team were undoubtedly putting together pieces of next-year's game just before that fateful meeting began, probably polishing the new customization options that were likely going to be present within the game next year in order to give fans the opportunity to have an authentic college football experience.

But it was too much for EA the corporation to bear.

I suppose it makes sense to cut a title before you go on a generational leap to avoid spending all of that money and all of those resources on a game which wasn't going to succeed in the marketplace. Losing the conference insignia and NCAA logo were bearable, but the past few weeks saw another group of licensees begin to balk at the game due to legal ramifications.

Several reports earlier this summer pegged that only one school had backed out of the future of the College Football series, most rumors and reports were that it was not an insignificant school. Two separate sources confirm that school as a Big Ten powerhouse, the kind that losing is a huge blow to the franchise. Those sources also confirmed several other schools were questioning their affiliation with the video game and were prepared to jump ship.

And then late yesterday news of a settlement between EA and the O'Bannon team was too coincidental not to be involved some way in the decision to cancel the NCAA franchise. Most likely, the terms of the settlement had been ironed out and finalized early yesterday if not the day before, and all parties were given ample time to prepare their public statements.

It is likely something within the settlement forced EA out of the college football gaming space for a time at least, be it no more player editing within the game or a simple outright agreement not to publish college football titles for a certain amount of years.

Another possibility is that the financial penalties EA paid out were substantial enough that making a college game no longer made sense.

The third thing which had to have contributed to this decision was the recent shake-ups in executive leadership at EA. Andrew WIlson was recently named CEO of EA with Patrick Soderlund, former head of the Battlefield franchise, becoming the head man of EA Sports, replacing Wilson.

In an interview with it24.se, Soderlund expressed his wishes to make sports games less iterative. That is to say, Soderlund wants to make sports games play more differently from game to game than they do now, with new products and new ways to play -- not unlike the disastrous approach Madden started out this generation with.

Soderlund obviously has a much different take on what sports games should be, even much moreso than Wilson. It is possible the sports franchises are heading towards a more digital or subscription based future with that kind of a vision behind it.

It was Wilson, Soderlund, and the rest of the new organizational structure who ultimately decided to axe NCAA Football. You can't shake it any other way, the new leadership team at EA found NCAA Football perfectly expendable.

However, with NCAA Football now gone, EA Sports' lineup now consists of Madden, FIFA, NHL, and UFC.

We don't know if Tiger Woods is coming back, it's doubtful NCAA Football is coming back anytime soon. There is no baseball game. It appears that the company which once ruled sports in every facet now is putting all of its eggs into just a few sports' basket.

Higher development costs and bigger legal risks along with decreasing authenticity into a marketplace which demands more authenticity than ever all made NCAA that much more untenable in the new generation of games. Those factors took what was a profitable franchise for over a decade and made it unprofitable to a set of new faces at the top of the organization.

For NCAA Football to ever return, college football itself will have to change. Universities and the NCAA will have to work out a compensation structure (if any) for players in things like jersey sales, memorabilia, TV deals, and video games.

The only way EA gets back into the game is with all of the schools on board and a guarantee their legal risks are nil. The money and interest in college football is much higher today than it was back when NCAA Football 99 was brought to market, so never say never to a new college football game in the future.

Until NBA Live hits the market in November, no major sports game series has gone away only to come back years later. College football makes a lot of sense to revisit down the line as a viable product, by some measures it is the second most popular sport in America behind the NFL. But for now, there is no good reason to bet on that happening anytime soon.

To NCAA Football: so long old friend, we're going to miss you.

Comments

# 1 xman2k @ Sep 27

Karma is unfortunate, now they have no excuse for Madden to be lackluster. Let's see how they do.

# 2 boomhauertjs @ Sep 27

This is probably more evidence that a college basketball game is never coming back, either.

# 3 chi_hawks @ Sep 27

In my high school and college years, I was real heavy into Madden. Dabbled with NCAA and played a few seasons, but really, I was NFL all the way. As I've gotten older, I haven't bought a Madden game in years but have really enjoyed the NCAA games. To be able to take my Hawks and build, year after year, into a big ten title contender and occasional national championship contender was a blast. The recruiting, the school songs, Kinnick Stadium, etc.... It's just too bad. I know its the way of the world but what a damn shame this whole thing is.

# 4 juicey79 @ Sep 27

It's unfortunate that the I get and the better the technology for gaming become, the less amount of titles there are to choose from. I remember back in the PS1 days we had several major sports games on the market. Now the more realistic and popular the sport becomes the more liky it becomes exclusive to a developer or a console. Worse part in this particular case many will lose employment over this outcome. I just wish things weren't so complicated and under legal scruitiny.

# 5 jwired21 @ Sep 27

I was talking to someone about this yesterday. It hit me that I will never run another NCAA Dynasty again, at least in the near future. In 2000, I moved away from friends and family to start a new career. I stayed in touch with those I left and others I met along the way by running my first of 13 consecutive online NCAA Dynasties. We played on the PS2 and the winner had to take out a notebook at the end of the game to write down all the stats to enter into an online dynasty tracker (for the life of me I can't remember the name of it). NCAA Dynasties have been a way for friends across the country to get together for a few months out of the year and battle for the elusive championship and talk about what is going on in their life. It's bittersweet that I won't be able to enjoy that any longer. For me NCAA was more about friendships then the game itself. I understand, to a point, what Ed Obannon is trying to do even though I disagree with it. I wonder to myself if anyone would have known who Ed Obannon and many other college players were if not for games like NCAA basketball or football. In the end, the rich get richer and everyone loses.

# 6 Retropyro @ Sep 27

Remember when the athletes just got excited to see what they were rated in a game? Then along came a hack like Obannon.

# 7 NewscasterNews4 @ Sep 27

I remember my first NCAA Game which was 05. Sad to see this series end without a next gen game

# 8 BiloxiSmitty @ Sep 27

A long ride since Bill Walsh College Football is over. Ed O'Bannon is a tool.

# 9 loccdogg26 @ Sep 27

I find it funny people are mad at Ed O'Bannon. You guys do realize that it was a class action lawsuit right?

# 10 Computalover @ Sep 28

it was ed o'bannon and sam keller who started this.. the lawsuit gained traction when current players joined in.. and then approved class action status.. so.. o'bannon and keller are the reasons for this.. tools indeed..

# 11 barsoffury @ Sep 28

It's rather sad to see this happening. I first got into this franchise 7 or 8 years ago. Was always a big NFL (madden) guy but more of a fringe NCAA football fan but this game actually fueled my love for real life NCAA football for what it is today. I can't really blame EA for this decision. The NCAA is a different animal than the NFL, which is a bunch of teams and a players association all under one umbrella. The NCAA is an wild west, every conference, team for themselves. I'm sure EA wouldn't have a problem compensating the NCAA and it's schools/players for their naming/likeness rights but they can't... Maybe one day the college level will eventually align itself and clean up it's ever growing mess but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. Sad time for us college football gaming fans.

# 12 BDawg35 @ Sep 28

A sad day. I have so many great memories playing this game, many of which revolve around friends I've made playing online.

# 13 feeq14 @ Sep 29

I cant believe some of you are so selfish as to complain about the players getting exploited by this system. Yes it sucks to have our toy taken away, but the truth is these players deserve a piece of the pie and have not been getting it for decades now. They are not selfish they are tired of being cheated. How entitled can you get where you feel that its ok for someone else to get cheated as long as you get your yearly roster update. That's America for ya...

# 14 DirectFX @ Sep 29

Wtf are they getting cheated out of?
They already get full scholarships, free clothes, shoes, equipment, books, room and board and usually some schools best dorms are for athletes only. They already get money stipends also.
They don't have to pay back scholarships even if they go one year or two and do horrible just to get into the pros. They are getting free auditions for thier future employers.
How many students are on work study or loans going to college? How many need to work a job or two to pay for school? If they don't finish college they still have massive student loans to payback. How many are getting free prime time auditions for thier career after college?
How many need to commute to school or go to community college because they can't afford room and board or going to a far away big 4 year school?
Then how many regular students get to leave school without a degree and sign a million dollar a year contract?
Not the normal students but those poor abused football players.

So please tell me how these athletes are suffering ?

# 15 Jimbo614 @ Sep 30

I feel sorry for some of you guys
1) as Feeq14 says, that you have so little regard for the plight of others.
2) That you was gullible enough to actually think that in your wildest dreams, there could ever be another NCAA game.
3) That some of you have such a limited understanding of what was actually at stake.

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