EA Sports has announced that it will produce a college football video game after a seven-year hiatus. While information is scarce, the game's resurgence means that any legal or ethical hurdles the game faced after its 2013 hiatus have since been resolved.

Unfortunately, the upcoming game will not feature player likenesses or NCAA branding.

EA did not announce the terms of the deal, but it will be different from past NCAA games. The new game will not feature the names, images, or likenesses of existing players; EA has licensing agreements with individual college football programs through the Collegiate Licensing Company, bypassing the NCAA. It also appears that "NCAA" will be eliminated and replaced with the more generic "College Football."

"We've just come to the point where we think it's the right time to bring [the college football game] back," Cam Weber, executive vice president and general manager of EA Sports, said in an interview with The Washington Post. 'We think we can really bring all the other core components to life and build a game that has enough depth to bring these schools and this kind of gameplay to life. And we believe that schools and conferences can partner and build a college football game again and ... . many of which are at a comfortable point, except for the names, images, and likenesses of the players."

The franchise was discontinued after NCAA Football 14 was released in 2013. This was due to EA and the NCAA being sued in court for non-payment of royalties for the use of player likeness rights. The lawsuit was eventually settled.

The NCAA had a rule prohibiting college athletes from earning money. This broadly meant that universities could not pay athletes, but extended to third-party endorsements as well.

This broad rule became increasingly unpopular as the NCAA continued to earn billions in revenue from what it saw as the exploitation of student athletes In 2019, the NCAA brought in $18.9 billion in revenue.

Student athletes were prohibited from doing anything that could be seen as profiting from their image. This included something as simple as setting up a YouTube channel to generate advertising revenue.

The NCAA recently changed its rules to allow athletes to earn income. There are some caveats, however. Universities cannot pay students, nor can students use the university's name or logo for commercial purposes. However, setting up a YouTube channel is something to consider.

Buying interest in NCAA Football 14 reached record levels during the pandemic. eBay has seen used games sell for over $100. a Banner Society analysis found that free time, nostalgia, and digital storefronts The combination of a lack of supply, given the games' removal from the market, appears to be causing a sudden demand.

At this point, it is unclear whether fans would want to play a generic college football game without their favorite players. We will have to see what the fan reaction is each time a game is released.

No release date or window for the new game has been revealed.