PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers will be appearing in the upcoming EA Sports College Football video game, releasing a teaser for fans on Twitter.
The Twitter post shows Pitt's uniform, helmet, and uniform, with other elements hidden. Also shown are two pieces of paper taped to a lamppost on Bigelow Boulevard across from the Cathedral of Learning on Pitt's campus in Oakland.
The EA Sports College Football video game will likely be one of the biggest games of the year. This is the first college football video game to arrive after an 11-year hiatus since 2013.
Bill Walsh College Football was the first college football video game, released in 1993. The legendary head coach of Stanford University and the San Francisco 49ers was on the cover of his first two editions, and later on the cover of College Football USA 96/97. The next two.
The NCAA began branding video games in 1997 with NCAA College Football 98 and continued branding through 2013 with NCAA College Football 14. All of his FBS teams then participated in the video game, but with the NCAA branding, so did the official bowl. He won games and awards such as the Heisman and Biletnikov.
The game had various modes that people could play, including Dynasty mode, Ultimate Team in later editions, and Road to Glory, where players could play as themselves and become a star.
NCAA College Football was released on many consoles including Wii, PlayStation, XBOX, GameCube, and Windows.
Pitt has had players appear on the cover, such as Biletnikoff champion Larry Fitzgerald on the cover of NCAA College Football 2005.
The reason for the suspension of college football video games came when the NCAA, Electronic Arts, and the use of college athletes' likenesses all agreed.
Among the conflicts: some conferences rescinding their cancellations of games, the NCAA continuing to assert student-athletes' amateur status, and a lack of understanding of how college athletes will be compensated. As a result, EA has chosen to shelve the game for the time being.
NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) has made it easier for EA to find a way to create a new college football game because it allows student-athletes to profit from themselves.
Student-athletes also have the ability to truly play themselves. Previous editions did not have player names or descriptions. They will have their own photo, name, etc. for the game.
The NIL pays student-athletes about $600 in participation fees and waives about $70 in game fees.
Electronic Arts collaborates with NIL rights firm One Team Partners and CLC, the nation's top collegiate trademark licensing company, to enable more than 15,000 active student-athletes to trade in products, and now video games. trading is now possible.
The last game sold around 1.5 million copies, so we're expecting much higher numbers than that this summer when it's released on July 19th.
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