I know I can be a bit of a dreamer, but if EA or another company is bold enough to ever try making a game without a license, there would be some nice benefits:
- Cost: Licensing all of the teams and bowls is a significant portion of the budget for this game (does anyone know the rough percentage? 10% 25%?). An unlicensed game would be much cheaper to produce, meaning more profit.
- Less Restrictions: Academic fraud, recruiting violations, player misconduct, late hits, more celebrations could all be represented in the game without being fettered by the NCAA's tight restrictions.
- Complete Customization: With no official team logos, uniforms or bowl games shipping with the game, complete customization is a must. But with no NCAA restrictions, customization could go even further, being able to tweak the playoff system or even the rules of the game itself.
It would be very tough to convince the consumer that an unlicensed game is worth buying. The game would have to feature incredibly strong gameplay, deep game modes, fantastic online functionality, and of course complete customization. And it would have to be smartly marketed, going after the true fanatics of college football. But I still think it is possible, and hopefully one day we will see it happen.