Is EA Sports’ College Football game coming to mobile?

The American sports system is unlike any other in the world. Rather than being a series of divisions that make up a national league in which teams are promoted or relegated from one division to the next based on performance, they base theirs around education. It has its ups and downs, because personally, you miss out on some great underdog stories and remove a level of competitiveness, but it also offers massive opportunities to some of the US’ most deprived young people.

 

Good at sports? Then top colleges will offer you a scholarship to play for them. But it’s not a free ride, if you don’t do well in your studies, you don’t play ball. Don’t play ball, you won’t be making it professionally in the NFL. Obviously that’s not always the case, just look at the story of Kurt Warner who is possibly the most famous undrafted player in NFL history. Against the odds, he went from stacking shelves in a local supermarket to becoming a Super Bowl winner and a two-time recipient of the NFL MVP award. No one in their right mind would ever have bet on that happening, except for Warner himself, who never gave up on his dream.

 

Having said that though, that story happened some time ago now. There have been a lot of changes with college football since then in an effort to help it grow. One thing we have seen is an increased presence in the betting industry. More sportsbooks have begun to offer NCAAF picks to allow more bettors to place wagers on either local sides, or some of the top college teams across the country. They have also begun to change legislation based around sponsorships for Students, in a bid to help them experience what it’s like as a pro. Don’t get the wrong idea, Rolex aren’t coming up sponsoring 17-year olds who play football. We’re talking about local BBQ joints and sporting goods stores.

 

Another development in the world of College Football too is the return of a College Football video game. Although, where once EA published the title with the branding of the NCAA, this time they’re going along for the ride without them. Although that’s not to say we’ll see fake players and college names popping up because they have struck a big deal with the Collegiate Licencing Company, to obtain licences for more than 100 different academic establishments and their teams.

 

For those who never stopped believing... #EASPORTSCollegeFootball pic.twitter.com/ojDl9LzXuj

— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) February 2, 2021

 

This Isn't going to appear on consoles and PCs overnight though, in fact it could be quite some time before we see it being available to download or purchase a physical copy of the game, with a 2023 release being suggested by some outlets. Such a delay would be understandable and that's because there is so much work to do, they need to scan stadiums, uniforms, logos, players, and much more. They need to work out the mechanics of the game, build an engine for the game to run on, or at least adapt different ones. Then there is building databases and gathering statistics.

 

However, despite all that, it hasn’t stopped the rumor mill turning, and another rumor has creeped out of the woodwork this week.

EA Sports College Football coming to mobile?

Yes, that’s right. The yet to be released game, has also been reported to have had work done on a mobile version of the game. It hasn’t been one hundred percent confirmed yet, but recent job listings do suggest that they have begun to assemble and are looking to further build a team who would focus on a mobile version of a College Football game. Hey could well be making a completely different college football game, but the odds of that happening are slim to none when they’re busy securing rights for their newly announced title.

What can we expect?

Without having seen the full version game yet, we don’t know quite what the mobile version of the game will be like, but going off previous EA titles, it could be quite different. Look at EA Sports’ FIFA series, possibly the most popular sports game on the market. It too is available in both a full and mobile version, and the two couldn’t be more different.

 

The full version has a variety of modes where you can create and control a team, or an individual on a journey to glory. The mobile version is very limited to touch screen controls where you have to swipe the screen to pass, shoot and tackle. It’s an ok title at best on the mobile but it’s nothing like the real thing. Even the soundtrack on the mobile version of the game doesn't match up to the FIFA’s soundtrack on the full version.

 

However, with more and more games bringing full versions of their games to mobile, such as PUBG and Fortnite, as well as services like Xbox Games Pass and their Cloud streaming feature, we may see more from EA Sports’ College Football. With the hardware of today's devices, they’re actually much more powerful than Nintendo’s current console, the Switch. So there is no reason we couldn’t find a similar legacy edition that EA Sports released for FIFA on the Switch, for mobile in the future.

 

Imagine now, you could be the next Trevor Lawrence, dominating the college scene and becoming a first round draft pick, right in the palm of your hand. The question would then be, would this somehow then link to their NFL game franchise, where you could potentially link up and continue your career? Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves there.