Everything Virginia Tech Submitted to EA Sports for New College Football Video Game
Doug Bowman
After a long wait, EA Sports is expected to return its legendary college football video game franchise this summer.
EA Sports first announced the game back in February 2021. Since then, anticipation has been building for the game’s first release in over a decade.
Matt Brown of the Extra Points newsletter recently reported schools are expected to share social graphics confirming participation in the game tomorrow, February 15. Brown has also reported the game is still expected to be released this summer.
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) February 11, 2024Multiple school-based sources have told me to expect a *small* EA Sports CFB update on Feb 15, when schools will share social graphics confirming their participation in the game.
Since folks have asked, haven't heard or read anything to suggest anything happens today.
In July 2022, VTScoop obtained the first set of assets that the school submitted to EA Sports for the video game via a Freedom of Information Act request.
This week, VTScoop obtained an updated set of assets Virginia Tech has submitted to EA Sports since July 2022, again via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Let’s run through all that we have, and make some assumptions (even though I know what happens when one assumes) about how they will be used by EA Sports.
Stadium Pictures
The initial set provided in July 2022 included hundreds of photos of Lane Stadium. Presumably, these are used by EA Sports to recreate Lane Stadium as realistically as possible in the video game.
The photos include everything from the specific sets of bleachers versus chairback seats in the South End Zone and West Stands, the very back wall at the top of the East Stands, close-ups of the Jumbotron, the electrical set-up on the visitor's sideline, the trees and shrubbery in the corners of the stadium, and other finer details of the stadium.
The photos did not include the interior of the tunnel Tech uses to make its entrance to the field, but it did include the front opening of the tunnel. Here are a few of the images provided.
Audio Files
Virginia Tech also included 17 audio files in the initial set of assets. We can assume these will be used to build an authentic experience when playing games as Virginia Tech in the video game.
Here is the list of audio files, using their file names. The links will open the file to play in a Google Drive folder.
- #2 FINAL
- #10 FINAL
- Carmine Burana FINAL
- Charge FINAL
- Crazy Train FINAL
- Danger Zone FINAL
- GOBBLE
- Hokie Pokie
- Imperial March FINAL
- Ironman FINAL
- Lets Go…Hokies
- Nokia FINAL
- Rock U FINAL
- Shenandoah FINAL
- Tech Triumph
- V-Tag FINAL
- Wake Up FINAL
The July 2022 set of assets included information about when these sounds are typically played, such as Tech Triumph after a touchdown, the Gobble noise on third downs, or the Let’s Go Hokies Stadium Yell Pre-Team Runout.
Of note, Tech included a note of importance that the team takes the field to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. Metallica would need to license the song to EA Sports for it to be included.
Multiple emails sent to Metallica’s management asking if the song had been licensed to EA Sports were not returned.
Jerseys & Helmets
In the set of assets provided in February 2024, Virginia Tech included images of the helmets and jerseys in both maroon and white, vector files for maroon or white jersey numbers 0-9, and a file for helmet decal logos that is named “ACC_Football_Digital-WBG(1).” One might assume that is an ACC logo.
One might also assume that only providing images of maroon and white jerseys and helmets means those will be the only options in the video game. Here are the images provided.
Player Names & Headshots
Lastly, Virginia Tech withheld a document that featured headshots with names of student-athletes, as the document obtained records considered protected as education records under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act and under Virginia's FOIA as scholastic records.
One last assumption here, but EA Sports will likely use that to build Virginia Tech’s roster and use each player’s image and likeness to create each player within the game.
