New college football video game 'Gridiron Champions' slated for 2020 release
You’ll have to wait a few more years, but it looks like there will be a college football video game back on the market.
Video game company iMackulate Vision Gaming (IMV) announced Monday that it plans to release “Gridiron Champions” in 2020 via PlayStation, Xbox and Steam platforms. It would be the first college football video game since EA Sports’ NCAA Football series was canceled in 2013 after the release of NCAA Football 14.
“There is no college football game on the market that offers a creative experience like Gridiron Champions and we’re excited to be the first to hit the marketplace in 2020,” said IMV CEO Alex Lewis.
The “NCAA Football” series came to an end because of legal disputes over the use of player likenesses. This new game will feature 126 fictional teams with generic player names and “completely randomized likenesses and traits to ensure they do not match any likenesses/traits of actual college football players.”
With 126 teams and an array of available in-game customization, users could presumably fill out the rosters of every FBS team around the country.
“The game will feature 126+ generic colleges and universities. The community will be able to completely customize their user experience. This customization includes: uniforms, stadiums, players, rosters, conferences, etc. We have a extremely detailed plan of how to make the first edition of Gridiron Champions as true to the college experience that you witness on Saturday within the constraints of our generic model,” the company website says.
The game’s website promotes the various game modes you were used to from EA Sports like “Legacy Mode,” which includes recruiting, “Playoff Chase,” which allows you to play through an expanded playoff field of up to 16 teams, and “Gridiron Icon,” which “puts you in the shoes of a college star student-athlete” starting in high school.
The company, which said in a press release that it has “partnered with a top-tier investment core group” to help it evolve, says it hopes to pursue licensing for future versions of the game.
“We have spoken with the Collegiate Licensing Company and Learfield Licensing Company who serve as agents for the licenses to over 600 universities,” IMV said. “They have both approved our generic roster plans. Also, they informed us that in order to obtain licensing in the future that we need to prove that Gridiron Champions can be profitable and will protect the legal best interest of any college/university that decides to become involved with the project.”
(Update: May 22 – IMV clarified that it does not have any formal written approval from Collegiate Licensing Company or Learfield Licensing Company.)
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Sam Cooper is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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