EA Sports Will Not Publish College Football Game Next Year, Future Plans in Doubt

[simgamer0005]

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

I'm confused as to how any of that applies to this thread or lawsuit. The discontinued game is peanuts compared to the BCS/playoff change.

I'm asking if you think there's a correlation between the two. Or is it just a coincidence? For the last 15 years or so, we've had the BCS every season and we had a new CFB video game every summer. This year, now all of a sudden we have neither.

Lets say they could make a video game this year. How would they design the Season / Dynasty mode in NCAA 15 if there was a new game coming out? No one really knows what college football will be like next season without the BCS standings, you know? The Dynasty mode in the NCAA games (on PS2 and PS3) has always revolved around the BCS standings. Isn't it interesting that the BCS system ran out the same year that EA's NCAA license ran out?

[mestevo]

Don't see how it could be considered anything other than a coincidence. A $40m settlement is a far cry from the potential liabilities of continuing the develop the game and lose a larger lawsuit, much bigger factor ambiguous direction designing the post-season of the next game.

[kehlis]

Nothing but a coincidence.


And it isn't like the format the NCAA will be using now is a huge mystery.

[simgamer0005]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

Nothing but a coincidence. And it isn't like the format the NCAA will be using now is a huge mystery.

All we know is there will now be a committee to select who will be in the two semi-finals. This is different then letting two specific polls largely determine who plays in the national championship. Now, those week to week polls might not mean as much, does this new committee have to put in the teams that are ranked #1-#4 in the polls in? I am interested in the new system of determining other major bowl games. Hopefully it'll be better than the BCS, but we won't know until we see a season play out.

One thing I hear is that now the two semi-finals (Rose and Sugar next season) will be both played on New Year's Day. Which is pretty cool, and apparently the other major bowls like Fiesta and Cotton will be played on either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. (New Year's Eve major bowls is a huge change) From what it sounds like, there won't be major bowls being played on Jan 2nd through January 4th anymore. I think a lot of stuff is still being decided, like where the Championship Final played on Jan 12th 2015 (apparently) will be held. (I am reading it will probably be in Arlington, TX)

The format of deciding who plays in the two semi-finals is a bit of a mystery. You have a small group of people making a decision, rather than the harris and coaches poll and computer rating that changed throughout the BCS era. I think overall it will be better, but it is a huge change. Had the EA NCAA series license been renewed, I think it would be hard from them to design dynasty mode. How would you program the game to evaluate teams in close proximity in Dynasty Mode? It's kind of amazing that the first year there is a playoff there is no college football game.

[mestevo]

I am sure there are massive threads in the appropriate forum for most of that post. Otherwise I don't see the issue, they could do as little as take the top 4 and there's your playoff teams. I don't see how you could attach that development. Remove the emotion and human element and consider the raw mechanics. They already determine top teams, just needs to be reinterpreted and messaged in a different format.

[simgamer0005]

Take the Top 4 of what though? The BCS ranking determined the Top 2 teams automatically. Now a committee actually has to make a decision after a long season on who are the 4 best or most deserving teams are. Really what I'm asking is if there was an NCAA 15 game, how would they determine who the 4 teams that make the semi-finals are? You can't just say "Top 4" because now there's no BCS ranking. Would it be the Top 4 of the harris or Top 4 of the coaches? Who the top 4 are after a long season is hugely debatable.

Here's where I think that it's not just a coincidence. I don't think they'd be able to release a game with a Dynasty mode. If there was an NCAA 15, likely they'd just program the game to make a "random" decision as to which teams get into the semi-finals without giving any information or criteria as to how those teams was chosen. It's much different in college basketball where you have half the field getting automatic bids. In the 4 team college football playoffs, there's no auto bids like in march madness. I think the role of conference championship weekend needs to be evaluated.

Obviously it will be assumed that the winner of the SEC championship game will be one of the teams in the play-off, but everything else is kind of an unknown. Who would have made a 4 team playoff this year? Auburn, Florida State, and who would be the 3rd and 4th? How would the committee determine who is more deserving for semi-final spots after that? In the BCS, after #1 and #2, it didn't really matter, as the bowls selected who they wanted in an order. But now this committee will have to evaluate more than just the Top 2, but #3 and #4. It won't be an average of polls and computer ratings, it'll just be a selection, so shouldn't we as fans know more about the criteria of what will be used?

I think it's relevant to this thread because if there is no new game this summer, won't people request updates to NCAA 14 with the 4 team playoff?

[mestevo]

They will, but that's naive since there's nobody working on the title.

Strip away all the current branding for BCS, call it power rankings, top 4 are your playoff, done.

Put a little more effort into prettying it up or something, but that's where they'd start. No coincidence, no conspiracy, you're massively over thinking this. There's no game this year due to ROI and liability, probably not in that order.

[simgamer0005]

The BCS was a formula, 1/3 harris poll, 1/3 coaches poll, 1/3 average computer rating. That calculation isn't what will determine the semi-finalists in the upcoming season of college football. You're saying all they would do is strip away the branding and call it a power ranking, but power rankings generally consist of an agreed upon average of statistics from games in a season, which is very different than the Top 4 BCS standings. Imagine if "power rankings" determined who made the playoffs in the NFL. Imagine how controversial that would be. Playoffs in the NFL are by winning your division, records and tie-breakers. (not by committee)

The larger question of criteria used by the committee can be discussed further in a another thread, but whether or not EA will patch NCAA 14 is something many gamers want to know. With the new college football playoff, I think we have an opportunity to really start looking more closely into evaluating teams. The BCS kinda guided the whole season, and now we don't have that anymore, so I think this offseason should be used to understand how bowl selection will change and how teams will be evaluated moving forward.