Video game developer EA Sports is breaking back into the college football world 11 years after lawsuits over using players’ likenesses without compensation froze the franchiseSI reportsThey’d bond over a football video game. One with a story mode that would transport the 7-year-old into a college dorm room, where letters from fans filled his mailbox, the campus newspaper teased a championship and a list of Heisman candidates adorned his computer screen.
Before 2021, college athletes were not allowed by the NCAA to profit from their brand, commonly known as their name, image and likeness — or NIL. Eventually, EA Sports gave up. And so the franchise sat after its last version in 2013, dormant for 11 years. “I personally believe that NCAA football is the greatest game ever made,” Griffin says. “A lot of kids growing up with the game wanted to be able to see themselves grow and develop into those players they were creating.”
It also was problematic, including a feature that — like much entertainment from even recent years past — does not stand the test of time well. In the create-a-player’s dorm room, hanging from the corner of the computer screen, was a wallet-sized picture depicting a woman. As the player performed better on the field, the depiction shuffled through presets. The woman’s body type sometimes became thinner; her bust, hair color and smile changed.