OS Roundtable: Could College Football 15 Have Worked?
 

There were several leaked details about what to expect with College Football 15 before it was ultimately canned by EA Sports. First, we knew most major conferences weren't going to be officially represented in the game. Second, the NCAA logo/insignia wasn't going to be found anywhere. Third, at least one school (rumored to be Ohio State) had backed out of the game before it was cancelled with more rumored to have been considering it.


But most importantly was fourth, an extensive and in-depth tool to create assets for the game was going to be included within it -- perhaps making the lack of inclusion of any conference/team/etc. to be pretty much a non issue.

Would College Football 15 have worked in this manner? Is a generic but customizable game commercially viable? Sound off!

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Though they wouldn't admit it, I wounder if Xanathols editor impacted including greater customization?

Only a matter of time before we were able to edit certain visual assets externally then inject back into the game through the modified Uniform DLC save.


Just a side question.

But I'm trying to understand who the average Joe would be as it pertains to video games?

I wish I could find a video game marketing study that was done a couple of years ago in which their data suggested that video gamers are very distinct in what type of genre/gaming they are into.

So much so, that most marketing models used would/does not push them to try other genre and/or games they're not into.

I wonder how true this notion is.
If a certain sect of gamers are not into sports games, they're just not interested in them and don't think twice about buying them.

Same is true for shooter, fantasy etc...

Some people just don't like football for whatever reason.
I'm like this with baseball, will not buy one because it's just not for me.

So back to the average Joe and an unlicensed, fully customizeable sports game, if that study holds some truth, if the gamer is not interested in sports games, he/she would care less if it's licensed or unlicensed.

I'm going to assume that the reverse would apply to the gamer that does like sports, in particular, College Football, that if there's an customizable option available that allows them to edit to their liking, an unlicensed game (College Football) on the shelf wouldn't matter because sports gaming is a genre they're in to.

Anywho, it's good wonder and discuss the what if's right about now with nothing available.

Re: OS Roundtable: Could College Football 15 Have Worked?
 

To quote Martin Luther King... I had a dream... a dream that somebody would make an NCAA football game for next-gen consoles where all the stadiums were correct, all the uniforms were correct, including old ones rarely or never worn again, and where they DIDN'T charge for new uniforms...

A dream that a game came out where the commentary sounded like the guys were actually watching MY game - and not some other game - a game where drives - plays, yards and time-of-possession were accurate, and didn't include kickoff returns as part of the drive and also didn't start the drive over if the offense fumbled the ball out of bounds or fumbled it in bounds but recovered their own fumble...

A dream where a Create A School was actually viable and allowed TOTAL customization, including rivals, where any uniform could be replicated or made from scratch...

A game where rivalry games felt like they really meant something and where Championship Games were a H-U-G-E deal!!!

A game where Brent Musburger would say: "You are looking live at the BCS National Championship game here in... (pick a city)

A game where football players were treated with respect, in that they work out year round and don't get tired or "yellow" after two or three plays... a game where you could get extra years because of injuries...

A game where knockout hits didn't happen 25-30 times a game... a game where you could actually dictate what your players were to work on prior to each game, including the ability to study your next opponent and see what their tendencies are...

I had a dream... but sadly, that's all it was... a dream!

Above all else, EA is a marketing machine. They will minimize a game's flaws (no matter how major) and maximize a game's features (no matter how minor) and have its the fan base climbing the walls in anticipation of the release date.

For those reasons I think College Football 15 would have sold. But future iterations of the product would have suffered the fate predicted by the roundtable.

The game being shipped with generic everything would have been information buried in the press releases. It would have been marketed around the inclusion of a college football playoff system, a next-gen release with next-gen graphics, in-depth customization and whatever gameplay additions they might have had planned. I could even see them using teams like Alabama, Oklahoma and Penn State for screenshots and videos because their uniforms already look generic (no disrespect meant).

That game would have sold but the fallout of being completely generic would have killed any hope of sustained longevity for the series and horribly selling College Football 16 would have been the final game. I think EA saw this coming and decided against investing in an annual product that had maybe two more years of viability.

Give total customization in Team Builder, custom leagues, easy player adds/alters and it would have sold. The playerbase would have made its own NCAA, all the way down to the logos. Being fan made content, EA would not have been liable...

The future for unlicensed games are with a different development cycle. In a few years we will have viable unlicensed games from non traditional developers. It will take awhile for these small time programmers to get there but no doubt someone will work on a full fledged football outside of Madden.

Re: OS Roundtable: Could College Football 15 Have Worked?
 

I agree 100% with the round table and I've said the same thing several times in the past. Hardcore guys like those of us on OS would absolutely buy a generic game that allowed us to edit it to make it more authentic. BUT, the casual fan (who makes up a huge percentage of EA's customer base) would not buy it. There's no way in hell that a generic NCAA game could be profitable because of that.

Re: OS Roundtable: Could College Football 15 Have Worked?
 

I'm sure a lot of people would have bought a generic game. With community rosters, in-game player likenesses are completely unnecessary, while Dynasty junkies already know that by year 2-3 your entire roster is comprised of generic/fake players anyway.

I've never, ever understood why people would be so hung up on having names for an "amateur" sport.