The wait is finally over, EA Sports is finally bringing back college football to video games. The last college football video game was in 2014. Fans have been trying for years to get the game back, and EA Sports finally listened.

The end of the game stems from a legal battle led by former UCLA star basketball player Ed O’Bannon that has set the tone for  the name, image, and likeness conversations happening in college sports today. The video games didn’t directly use the names of players. The games used the numbers, skill sets and general appearances of players without using their actual identity. 

Junior Jackson Brunner has been keeping up with all that has been going on with the legal debate and thinks that it is about time they made a new game. “I am happy that I get to be playing the new football game coming out but it still won’t be the same as playing professional sports games like Madden or NBA 2k because we won’t be able to use the players real names,” Brunner said.

O’Bannon led an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA that named EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company as co-defendants, arguing that the NCAA was wrongfully using athletes’ images commercially. Basically, the video game would have everything about the player, (skin tone, hair type, etc.) without using their name. EA Sports and CLC reached a settlement with O’Bannon on a $40 million agreement that resulted in checks of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars sent to players whose likenesses had appeared in the game. 

Junior Ian Repie has played video games his whole life, including the college football and basketball games. “I am looking forward to the new game and, even though it won’t have the actual player names, I can still make it a fun game,” Repie said.

There is not a set return date for the video game, but fans are hoping that the game will return sometime in 2022. If the game does return in 2022, it will end an eight-year hiatus. The last time people played the game was on the Xbox360, and not many people own an Xbox360 console anymore. Fans of the game have been making simulations of the new game with modern college football players on the cover like Clemson standout quarterback Trevor Lawrence. 

Junior Nate Jacobs grew up playing the game and is looking forward to the release. “If the game is anything like what fans are making models of, then EA should do a good job and I am looking forward to playing the mascot mashup and all the new cool features in the game that I used to play with my friends in elementary school,” Jacobs said.