We are less than a year away from the return of a college football video game. Using EA Sports old tradition of releasing the game on the second Tuesday in July once we get to 7/9/23 for the release of College Football 24 it will have been 10 years to the day since we’ve had this joy in our lives. It’s been way, way too long.

Normally, I hate the fear-mongering that comes with the slow leaks for a new game, particularly for one that was so beloved and is coming back after such a long absence. I’m pretty sure College Football 24 will be fun and I’ll enjoy it a lot. However, if history of Electronic Arts is any indicator you’ll probably be disappointed if your expectations are too high.

Engines & Apathy

It’s important to note that a lot has changed in the video game world over the last 10 years. EA Sports was always seen as a good caretaker of the college football franchise but over the past decade its success with Madden and FIFA has plummeted. Electronic Arts also recently purchased Codemasters and the F1 22 game suffered poor reviews after a good first partnership with F1 21 last year.

The story with Madden and FIFA is well-known at this point. The microtransaction features in the Ultimate Team mode from each title (the large part of EA bringing in over $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2021) has transformed the games now catering to a younger crowd more interested in arcade online simulation at the expense of immersive and realistic career modes.

The last college football release, NCAA Football 14, had the Infinity 2 engine which at the time was a modified version of the same engine EA Sports used with the Madden franchise. It was reported recently that like in previous editions, College Football 24 will once again use the same engine as Madden but of course with modifications for the college game.

The big problem is that since Madden 18 the NFL game has been using the Frostbite 3 engine and the results have not been impressive and largely going backwards with a broken physics platform. The Madden franchise from 2015 through 2019 received IGN grades of 8.7 (out of 10), 8.8, 8.6, 8.6, and 8.9 respectively. Over the last 4 editions those ratings have fallen to 8.1, 6.0, 6.0, and this year’s 7.0 with some really harsh criticism particularly reserved for the last 3 games.

Let’s take the above review of Madden 23 as a whole. There is a new passing model that is a slight improvement from last year and the tackling (while still extremely poor) has been revamped slightly positively. The franchise user interface is new and the new player models are really gorgeous. That’s about it for the good stuff. Some of the lowlights include:

  • Poor AI blocking, particularly in pass-sets
  • Jump balls nearly always favor defenders
  • Defenders make plays with turned heads
  • Way too frequent interceptions
  • Gameplay is still very poor and unnatural
  • Extremely shallow franchise mode
  • 7th straight year of the same broadcast team & commentary
  • Nonexistent crowd noise and atmosphere
  • No referees
  • Generic pre-game and halftime presentation
  • Far too many bugs and glitches

The results are largely the same–the gameplay and franchise mode for Madden was far better in the game 10 years ago. That’s scary if you’re a college football video game fan welcoming back this title again.

In contrast, 2K Sports hasn’t competed with EA Sports for the NBA video game for the last 4 years and has continued to build a fan-favorite game with a ridiculously deep career mode. In fact, they’ve recently announced for 2K23 the inclusion of 3 new eras for MyTeam where you can start a career in the Magic vs. Bird (1983) era, Michael Jordan (1991) era, or Kobe Bryant (2001) era.

Imagine a college football version of this gameplay. 

All of that awesomeness includes period correct uniforms (including referees!), arenas (even period specific advertising!), menu graphics, gameplay from the style of the era, rules, with all of the correct draft classes through the years. As you progress through the years, all of the real changes that happened with logos, franchise expansion, new divisions, and financial growth all take place. Amazing.

What Do We Know About College Football 24?

We need a pick-me-up. Let’s start with the good news about next year’s release. For one, EA Sports has been working on the game for 2 years already and undoubtedly will have put in a ton of time with College Football 24. There are also reports of the following:

  • New and deeper stadium scans
  • Schools providing gameday atmosphere, traditions, music, and program assets for game use
  • Throwback uniforms
  • Dynasty and Road to Glory modes return
  • Virtual magazines are back
  • The broadcast will be using ESPN coverage
  • Rosters to be completed in late June 2023 with first day DLC for new updates
  • The transfer portal is expected to be in the game
  • EA wants a current athlete for the cover

This is a good foundation. A few schools have noted that EA has reached out to them and a lot of information is being given out which is nice. I’d expect a really deep set of throwbacks and using an ESPN broadcast is something not even Madden can dream of using right now.

What about the bad news?

First, the game is confirmed to not be on the older video game consoles. So if you don’t have a Playstation 5 or XBox Series X/S you’d better start making some moves now if you want to play this game next July. It hasn’t been confirmed to be on PC, either. But, I would expect it will be released on PC, not doing so would be absurd.

The situation with NIL still isn’t clear, either. Most expect the name, image, and likeness of players to be in the game but EA cannot confirm anything yet. Reports are that they are waiting on any potential rulings from Congress and still working through the legal issues with individual schools and conferences. But it’s also possible some teams of players, or certainly some players who do not grant their rights, won’t be in the game.

EA has also confirmed they aren’t building rosters for an entire 85-scholarship team and instead will focus on a 2-deep for both sides of the ball. No word yet on if there will actually be 85 scholarships available to a team, either.

It hasn’t been confirmed if real head coaches (or assistants even) will be in the game. Most expect this not to be the case. It would seem EA is going to focus heavily on getting the NIL situation settled with the players and get that sorted without worrying about coaches.

Will College Football 24 be a bad game?

Off the field I imagine the game will shine. There are so many details to pack in the game, they’ve been working on it for such a long time, and attention to detail should be a huge strength. It’s been 10 years and everything will feel so new and fun.

On the field, it’s right to be skeptical of the game physics and gameplay. If you haven’t played a football game since 2013 do yourself a favor and pop in any of the recent Madden releases to get familiar with the feel of the Frostbite engine. You are guaranteed not to like it.

Electronic Arts also reportedly moved half of its Madden team over to the College Football division last year, which helps explain the lack of updates with its NFL series. Whether that’s good for the college series remains to be seen. There will be a ton of pressure to get this redemptive release just right and EA’s recent track record has been poor. Hopefully, the college team will be given a lot of freedom.