Despite legal hurdles, EA Sports College Football is still on track for a Summer 2024 release after EA Sports settled a lawsuit filed earlier this year regarding the use of players' likenesses.
The BrandR Group and OneTeam Partners have reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit regarding EA Sports.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) November 30, 2023
From EA spokesperson: “We’re pleased to move on from these claims and look forward to delivering EA SPORTS College Football in Summer 2024.”https://t.co/6hHq5KvCP5 pic.twitter.com/OD6wbRHKUJ
Spotted by sports business outlet On3, the outlet reports that EA Sports reached a settlement agreement last Thursday with OneTeamPartners and The BrandR Group, two agencies specializing in licensing deals for student-athletes. In a joint statement, both agencies noted that both had reached an "amicable settlement of their past dispute related to college group licensing."
The BrandR Group filed the lawsuit last June. The agency argued that the compensation for student-athletes who licensed their likeness for the game was "far below market value. On3 reported earlier this summer that if a player opted-in to have their likeness used in EA Sports College Football, the payout would have been $500 per player.
"We are pleased that BrandR has decided to withdraw their claims without any payment from EA," an EA spokesperson told IGN in a statement via email. "We've been clear from the beginning that this suit had no merit. Our focus continues to be on directly licensing individual college athlete name and likeness rights through an opt-in program that will give college athletes the choice if they want to be in our game. We're pleased to move on from these claims and look forward to delivering EA SPORTS College Football in Summer 2024."
As Matt Brown notes, the lawsuit would have "never impacted the release date" of EA Sports College Football. EA previously intended to make a college football game without college players.
EA originally announced that it was developing a new college football video game in 2021 in parnership with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC). After the Supreme Court ruled that college athletes could profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), EA announced it would add real-world NCAA players into the game.
In an interview with ESPN last year, EA revealed that in addition to using real-world college football players in the game, EA Sports College Football will include several returning features, including Dynasty Mode and Road to Glory.
EA Sports College Football will be the first college football video game released since 2013 after EA canceled the series after losing the NCAA license and a class-action lawsuit brought forth by former college athletes sued it for the unauthorized use of its likeness. The lawsuit was settled in 2016 for $60 million.
In our review of the last college football video game, NCAA Football 14, we said: "NCAA Football 14 has its moments of fun, but the "wow" moments are few and far between."
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.