NEWSLETTER
It’s finally coming. After years of wishing, speculation, NIL complications, and everything in between, the EA Sports NCAA Football video game franchise is officially coming back.
Originally, the return of the franchise was supposed to take place this summer but due to several factors, mainly NIL issues, the debut of the game was pushed until the summer of 2024. As much as it sucked having the game pushed, it appears EA Sports is making the correct move. Not only do the details of the game sound incredible, but we know that we’ll actually get real player names on rosters.
No more QB #7 from Ohio State finding WR #18 a touchdown pass. The days of QB #9 from Alabama taking home the Heisman are over! Now we can actually get C.J. Stroud finding Marvin Harrison Jr for a touchdown in the College Football Playoff.
The central focus for the game’s developers has reportedly been the very popular dynasty mode. Dynasty mode was by far the most well-liked game mode from the earlier iterations of the franchise. The last version of the game, NCAA Football 14, was released in July 2013.
The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman was invited by EA Sports to meet with game developers and help give insight into the recruiting process so they can create the most authentic experience possible. On The Andy Staples Show, Wasserman talked about his experience working with developers and what he took away from the game. My takeaway from Wasserman’s insight: get excited.
NCAA Football 2024: What To Look Forward To
Of all of the things Wasserman got into, here’s the quote that stuck out to me most.
“They’re doing it in a way where you’re not just going to get a Madden engine with the college uniforms. Like they are really trying, and I think the reason why they delayed it a year was that they wanted to make sure that when the game finally made its return, that it wasn’t just some crappy knockoff of Madden, and that it was its own thing.”
This is absolutely HUGE in my opinion. For years, the Madden franchise has been criticized by fans for growing stale. It essentially just became “the same game engine with updated rosters” year after year. This was far and away the biggest concern for fans of the NCAA Football franchise as well. No one wants NCAA Football to just be Madden with different rosters and uniforms. From what it sounds like according to Wasserman, that couldn’t be farther from the truth here. They delayed the game partially to secure the rights to use player names. But the more important reason was that the game wasn’t ready yet. Now they’re using the extra time to perfect the gameplay as well as perfect dynasty mode.
Dynasty Mode was the lifeblood of the NCAA Football video game franchise. This time around, it really does seem that the game developers still realize that. The details in which Wasserman described the recruiting interface suggest that.
“They were asking how often I see this happen [in recruiting] or how should we do this or that, and I will tell you,because I’ve seen kind of some of the back of the interfaces of what they’re working on and stuff, it is going to be awesome…like the dynasty mode and like recruiting, and rankings and territories and all the things that we talk about on this show is going to be represented to some extent in the video game.”
The details that it sounds like they are going into with recruiting are very encouraging. One would have to think that if the developers delayed the game a year, and are diving into this much detail into one small (yet important) aspect of Dynasty Mode, they are leaving no stone unturned in making this game the best experience possible instead of just copy/pasting Madden with some minor tweaks.
I couldn’t be more excited for July of 2024. I just cannot wait to take over as the Head Coach at Hawaii and turn the Rainbow Warriors into a national powerhouse. For now, though, I’ll just keep dusting off my old Xbox 360 and NCAA Football 2014.
