EA Sports will no longer bring back its college basketball video game.
The video game giant rescinded its proposal as an increasing number of schools have chosen to work with 2K instead, according to Matt Brown of “Extra Points.”
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EA Sports originally made an announcement teasing the return of the college basketball series in late June, in a social-media post that read, “Bring back the madness. Let’s run it back.”
The last game in the series was NCAA Basketball 10, as EA stopped producing its basketball game four years before its football series was put on hiatus due to ongoing lawsuits surrounding name, image and likeness.
When EA returned the game to the fold last year, “College Football 25” became the best-selling sports video game in history.
The biggest difference for EA in producing the football and basketball games is licensing rights at the professional level. EA has produced the “Madden” series for the game’s entire history, while 2K now dominates the NBA landscape and is increasing its purview. 2K has recently added WNBA teams and players to the game, and is now looking to do the same with college.
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According to “Extra Points,” the following memo was sent to licensing directors at the campus and conference level Wednesday from Sean O’Brien, EA Sports’ VP of commercial partnerships and licensing:
“Given there are some schools choosing to accept the 2K Sports proposal for inclusion in NBA 2K, the offer to be included in a college basketball video game will unfortunately have to be rescinded. Everyone at EA Sports is disappointed that we all couldn’t find an acceptable path forward, but we appreciate your support in trying to bring a stand-alone college basketball game with all men’s and women’s Division 1 institutions and student athletes, conferences as well as the NCAA, in a way that fans have told us they want.”
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.
