EA's College Football revival will pay FBS players for their likeness

gamedeveloper.com:

EA Sports' upcoming college football-focused game will allow real-life players to be featured in the game. Per ESPN, a contract between the publisher and OneTeam Partners has been struck to "facilitate collegiate athletes' names and likenesses" into the title. 

The 2024 game, dubbed EA Sports College Football, will mark the first new entry of the sub-series in nearly a decade. EA previously clashed with the NCAA over properly compensating college players back in 2014. 

When EA announced a new College Football game was in the works back in 2021, it was said at the time that real world players couldn't be featured. With how real athletes are often the draw of these sports games (several of which are made by EA), the turnaround here is pretty significant.

Under the new agreement, all college players that are eligible under the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) can opt-in to have their likenesses in the 2024 game. Those who accept will be financially compensated (for a currently undisclosed amount), and those who don't will have a generic in-game avatar and player stand in for them.

A representative for EA Sports told ESPN that the aim was to be "as inclusive and equitable as possible." As ESPN notes, FBS eligibility covers over 120 schools and "thousands" of current students, and an representative acknowledged not every player will be facescanned into the game. 

OneTeam's website further detailed that if individual sales cannot be properly identified, then revenue will be "divided equally among the athletes included in each licensing program."

Next year's release of EA Sports College Football is particularly important for EA. It'll be another sports game to bear the "EA Sports" moniker in its title, following this year's EA Sports