Sure, developers would not need the NCAA to release a college football game, but they are going to need the schools and conferences to have any chance of sales success. At least three of the P5 conferences stated they do not want to license to a game back in 2013, though the SEC was still on the hook for one more year when they made the statement.
The bigger issue becomes the schools, which individually license to the developer. I came across an interesting article from 2013 (
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmi.../#30fbc1261e26) that shows that the payout to the schools is less than 1% of the schools' annual football budget. Given the current climate created by the O'Bannon case, I do not see any school willing to risk a lawsuit to only make tens of thousands of dollars. All it would take is one in game player to be too close in likeness to a real player and the attorneys will be circling.
IMHO, nothing happens until O'Bannon is past and player compensation is settled. Once the dust settles on that, then the schools, conferences, and NCAA (if it still exists at that point) will be willing to talk.