NCAA Football 14 News Post

Many on NCAA Team Blindsided, Then Escorted Out of the Building

12:03 PM - October 1, 2013 by RaychelSnr

My Press Row Podcast colleague Owen Good penned a heart-wrenching read over at Kotaku about what the past few days have been like for an EA Football employee.

Several members of the NCAA team, including 15 year veteran Jeff Luhr, were let go yesterday as EA sought to bring both the NCAA and Madden teams together for future Madden iterations.

There are some interesting nuggets within the article, the most notable is that EA was planning to perhaps introduce a serious customization element into next year's game to allow for custom stadium building, custom uniforms, team's, etc. in a way that's never quite been done before in sports gaming.

Also, there was some talk of doing some enhanced storytelling within dynasty mode to spice it up a bit.

Needless to say, we hope that vision eventually gets to come to light on next-gen consoles. For now, head on over to Kotaku to read Owen's excellent piece.

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Member Comments

# 21 mercalnd @ 10/01/13 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hf199


	Lets put more resources towards NHL for next generation! Presentation and all referees would be a nice start, and now hybrid icing!

NHL is not made by the same dev studio as NCAA and Madden.

# 22 EAGLESFAN10 @ 10/01/13 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rman


	Shame they can't release a generic college football game with the features they wanted to add this coming year. Let us create players, stadiums, conferences, teams, etc.

I really don't like that Idea because I mean we wouldn't actually start playing the game until like well who knows when

Plus People already gives guys headaches just editing rosters alone so I doubt anybody would want to do that

# 23 sportzbro @ 10/01/13 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMChrisS


	[center](...)EA was planning to perhaps introduce a serious customization element into next year's game to allow for custom stadium building, custom uniforms, team's, etc. in a way that's never quite been done before in sports gaming. Also, there was some talk of doing some enhanced storytelling within dynasty mode to spice it up a bit.

Oh yea, I'm suuuurrree that they planned to finally do what everyone had been begging for them to add for years.

"Oh, NCAA 15 was the one and we were really gonna try this time, but gee wiz now we can't!" - Right... this is just PR bs to save face and keep EA in a good light with it's fanbase. IMO - good riddance. The game had no direction, barely improved year to year, and offered zero customization or fun factor.

# 24 fballturkey @ 10/01/13 06:59 PM

I have no doubt that they planned all of those things for the last half decade before it got axed due to resource allocation.

# 25 carnalnirvana @ 10/01/13 08:01 PM

release it as dlc charge $20 if you want, just let me customize cpu coaches more, team tendencies and playcalling.....

enough excuses and close calls of next year non sense either release it or dont talk about it.

these were highly educated people they will survive, now they feel like how i felt when i play this product....

# 26 xandermole25 @ 10/01/13 10:07 PM

"Even on the upper end, if EA Sports paid the 85 players (really, just 55 are used in the game) on 126 different teams $350 each that's a $3.7 million licensing fee each year. Considering what a game with authentic players would return in additional sales, and that Madden has in some years paid more than $20 million to the NFL Players' Association for the rights to its players�that kind of money would have been no barrier to the production of a college football game. If only the NCAA had allowed it."

I think this actually might be good news, the quicker the NCAA changes their rules the quicker there will be an NCAA game

# 27 superxero27 @ 10/02/13 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xandermole25


	I think this actually might be good news, the quicker the NCAA changes their rules the quicker there will be an NCAA game

You actually think the NCAA will even consider changing its amateurism rules anytime soon?
Even if hypothetically the suit against the NCAA by O'Bannon and Co. forced them too somehow, it would drag on and on for many years.

# 28 DorianDonP @ 10/02/13 02:05 AM

I just wanted a playoff DLC before the curtain call. But not getting what I wanted has pretty much always been the theme with NCAA this gen.

# 29 BleedGreen710 @ 10/02/13 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmik58


	No way the "higher ups" would have allowed the game to add in that kind of customization. It doesn't appeal to the casual fans.

Neither does the Owner Mode they added in Madden 25. I wouldn't doubt that they were planning something big like that for NCAA15.

# 30 awill25 @ 10/02/13 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superxero27


	You actually think the NCAA will even consider changing its amateurism rules anytime soon? Even if hypothetically the suit against the NCAA by O'Bannon and Co. forced them too somehow, it would drag on and on for many years.

I think the more likely outcome will be for the power conferences to break away from the NCAA all together. There is too much $ to be made under their restriction. This along with the NCAA's pick and chose rules enforcement may drive the big boys away.

# 31 MrSerendipity @ 10/02/13 09:19 AM

There are some pretty bitter folks in this thread. Fact is, we don't know what they were planning for next year. We know what they've said they were planning for next year. But simply because you assume that EA is saying it to save face, doesn't mean you're right. With the release of Next Gen Consoles, I can definitely understand why they'd finally give in to us customization guys. As upset as I am that we aren't going to get that, I'm even more upset that EA did in fact have to let people go. I wonder how O'Bannon feels about being the reason people are on the unemployment line now.

# 32 da ThRONe @ 10/02/13 10:44 AM

People being laid off is never a good thing. Par the theme of this thread I hope those individuals that were let go find acceptable employment soon.

As for the direction of full customization I think it is the epitome of what went wrong over with NCAA this past gen. Entirely too much fluff and not enough sustain.

# 33 superxero27 @ 10/02/13 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sportzbro


	Oh yea, I'm suuuurrree that they planned to finally do what everyone had been begging for them to add for years. "Oh, NCAA 15 was the one and we were really gonna try this time, but gee wiz now we can't!" - Right... this is just PR bs to save face and keep EA in a good light with it's fanbase. IMO - good riddance. The game had no direction, barely improved year to year, and offered zero customization or fun factor.

So how exactly would this put EA in good graces with their fanbase? Telling people that they scrapped the idea people have been clamoring for for years just before they were going to implement it would make them look worse.

# 34 superxero27 @ 10/02/13 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awill25


	I think the more likely outcome will be for the power conferences to break away from the NCAA all together. There is too much $ to be made under their restriction. This along with the NCAA's pick and chose rules enforcement may drive the big boys away.

The big problem with that is the tax exemption the NCAA enjoys. If the big boys wanted to break away and form their own NCAA-like body (they would need some structure for governance), they would have a lot of legal legwork and fighting ahead of them to garner a similar exemption.

Another problem now, is that the recent issues with the NCAA have garnered considerable interest from the public, and in some cases some levels of government.

If a chunk of schools were to break away from the NCAA now and try to establish their own body, the scrutiny on that new body would be immense (first of all because the NCAA would likely sue to stop it), and not just from the public and the media; the feds would most likely at one point or another become involved, be it for tax-exempt purposes, the afore-mentioned suit, because interstate commerce is entirely within their purview, or by grandstanding politicians. If there's one thing the NCAA doesn't want, it's the feds snooping everywhere and I can guarantee any new body to spin off the NCAA wouldn't want that either.

# 35 xandermole25 @ 10/02/13 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superxero27


	You actually think the NCAA will even consider changing its amateurism rules anytime soon? Even if hypothetically the suit against the NCAA by O'Bannon and Co. forced them too somehow, it would drag on and on for many years.

do I think they are gonna change it?
Not with outside pressure, but I think there are gonna be changes to the structure so maybe the NCAA may not change, but colleges will leave the NCAA

# 36 awill25 @ 10/03/13 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superxero27


	The big problem with that is the tax exemption the NCAA enjoys. If the big boys wanted to break away and form their own NCAA-like body (they would need some structure for governance), they would have a lot of legal legwork and fighting ahead of them to garner a similar exemption. Another problem now, is that the recent issues with the NCAA have garnered considerable interest from the public, and in some cases some levels of government. If a chunk of schools were to break away from the NCAA now and try to establish their own body, the scrutiny on that new body would be immense (first of all because the NCAA would likely sue to stop it), and not just from the public and the media; the feds would most likely at one point or another become involved, be it for tax-exempt purposes, the afore-mentioned suit, because interstate commerce is entirely within their purview, or by grandstanding politicians. If there's one thing the NCAA doesn't want, it's the feds snooping everywhere and I can guarantee any new body to spin off the NCAA wouldn't want that either.

Very valid points. The actual preliminary plan would be for there to be many different governing bodies (individual conferences). I personally think this could get very messy with different conferences enforcing different rules. However this is what the early talk is. I work in college athletics and thats the "word around the campfire" as they say.

Only a matter of time......It's more of a fact that schools will either break away or the NCAA will undergo major reform than it is an opinion. One of the two is coming within the next 7-10 years, that is without question.

# 37 NDFan1029 @ 10/03/13 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama22Tide


	I hate it when people try to lie and make us gamers feel like we are going to miss out on something that was never going to happen. I believe that they were going to implement the dynasty feature where you could receive help from boosters like in NCAA Basketball. They stadium builds and Jersey crap is just a lie. Team Builder is for that BS. Its just a shame the EA Football franchise is only going to be Madden. Also why didn't those a holes sue 2KSports? they made college football and basketball games using players likeness.. Oh yeah because 2K doesn't have the pockets of EA.

Completely agree with you there. They just want people to feel upset about the thing being axed.

# 38 NDFan1029 @ 10/03/13 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superxero27


	So how exactly would this put EA in good graces with their fanbase? Telling people that they scrapped the idea people have been clamoring for for years just before they were going to implement it would make them look worse.

No it wouldn't. It would make the NCAA look like the bad guys because they killed off the possibility of a game with these supposedly amazing new features. Given how little EA actually changed/implemented with the current gen versions of the game over the past 7 years, I'm much more inclined to believe this "major customization" thing was completely made up.

# 39 Sundown2600 @ 10/03/13 01:13 AM

All I can say without trashing this series current gen is I really hope those talented devs find work at another company very soon.

# 40 ncaafootball14markus @ 10/03/13 01:16 AM

So haumiller, the main culprit of the failure of these past year's iterations wasn't let go, but these other designers were?!? Are you serious? How does this man retain a job, when he had nothing to do with the success that made ncaa 14 the best of current-gen? EA is going down hill...plain and simple.

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