2K Games dropped a really interesting tweet after EA Sports’ teaser for the return of EA Sports College Basketball.
The official NBA 2K Twitter account quote tweeted a fan who posted
2K should be making a college basketball game
NBA 2K said this:
The campus has been quiet for too long [winking emoji]
2K Games certainly didn’t confirm anything, but the spicy response certainly suggests that they’re working on something themselves. And that’s actually supported by our report from yesterday, because they may also have been part of Extra Points’ rumor.
Extra Points got their hands on a memo from the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), explaining that they sent out Request for Proposal (RFP) letters for video game companies to pitch their own new college basketball games to get the CLC license. While CLC urged their member colleges and universities to accept EA Sports’ proposal, this didn’t entirely rule out the possibility for CLC to also grant the license to other video game companies.
So it’s entirely possible that 2K Sports, and a still unknown third video game company, pitched their own college basketball game to the CLC. That third company’s pitch could have been rejected, or we may not hear about it until much later. But it’s entirely possible that EA Sports College Basketball could be returning alongside College Hoops 2K in this console generation.
EA’s college basketball franchise started with NCAA March Madness 98, released in 1997 on the PlayStation. A few years later, 2K Sports launched their own college basketball franchise with NCAA College Basketball 2K3, releasing on PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox in 2002. The funny thing is, it released at the same time as NCAA March Madness 2003, meaning both EA Sports and 2K Sports had the NCAA license for at least one year. EA Sports would only change the NCAA March Madness name to NCAA Basketball in their last two games, while 2K Sports would change their franchise name to ESPN College Hoops 2K, until finally settling for College Hoops 2K.
While we wouldn’t rule it out completely, it’s highly unlikely that NBA 2K or any company would bring back the NCAA brand to their college basketball or football game, or any game at all. That’s because the ruling on the O’Bannon v. NCAA case found that the NCAA unfairly withheld pay and benefits from college athletes when it came to their appearances and likenesses being used in video games. You are not likely to find college teams or players of any sport who will be willing to work with the NCAA in this industry again.
But we think sports games fans will be happy regardless of the name these companies use. College sports video games seemed to be strangely niche for some time, which now seems quite quaint when sports is one of those hobbies that will always have a fandom. But then, the market for Cabela’s hunting games also came and went in sync with industry trends. We don’t know if these college sports video games are going to last, but it’ll be certainly interesting to see if sports becomes big business in video games once again.
