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The summer of 2024 is when the return of the college football video game series is expected to take place.

The brand is going to launch the game at that time because of the enormous undertaking of creating the game from scratch.

They don't want to rush to market but want to make sure the inaugural edition is up to standard.

"That's the best date for us to bring the game that we believe will meet or exceed our player expectations," Holt said. The scale and breadth of what we want in the game needs to be covered. We are trying to create a very realistic college football experience.

EA Sports is slated to release its college football game in the summer of 2024. It will include state-of-the art 3D scans of dozens of stadiums, in addition to detailed references for mascots, such as Brutus Buckeye (above). Courtesy of EA Sports

The release had not been delayed, Holt said. He said that they had to start from the beginning.

Holt said that they were trying to figure out a way to use real college football players. The inner workings of name, image and likeness were still being worked out in the college athletics landscape when the game was announced. There were more questions about NIL back then.

Although it's not clear how the structure of facilitating that will happen, the NIL has opened avenues for college players to now be in the game. The player will be paid if they are in the game.

Holt said that the road was blocked back in 2011. I said something to the fact that we were passengers on the journey.

The road is still under construction.

"Our intent is to work towards that and find a meaningful way to include them in the game," Holt said.

It's the same for schools in the game. At least 120 schools will be included in the game, thanks to the partnership between CLC andEA Sports.

Holt wouldn't say which of the 131 FBS schools had not yet signed on. Holt wouldn't say if Notre Dame would sign on for the game if the players didn't benefit from their name, image and likeness being used. Holt didn't say what would happen if a school decided not to play.

The rights to the College Football Playoff have been secured.

Holt said that they expect more will join, but that they can only commit to what they have in the bag. As we move forward, we will have more information to give. We will put as many schools as possible into the game.

Holt said the game will be "an always evolving experience."

Holt said that the company is trying to make sure that the traditions and unique experiences for each school are included.

There will be a return of dynasty mode, in which a player can control a school through multiple seasons, including recruiting and the transfer portal, and road to glory, in which a player can create one player and take that player through the college football process.

Holt said that dynasty mode is a priority for the developers.

Holt said thatDynasty was on everyone's mind. We want to make sure that we can get that right for Year 1 so that we can build on it as we go forward.

The cover of the game will be a picture of Denard Robinson, the assistant director of player personnel at the University of Michigan.