EA Sports announced its first college basketball game in 15 years, and then things went sideways. College sports games are back, but while EA is having a lot of success with its College Football series, the new college basketball game that EA announced earlier year could now be benched. Things kicked off in June when EA released a teaser image that got everyone excited, but tough news came not long after when it was reported that 2K's CBB game, not EA's, would be the only one going ahead. Below, you can see everything we currently know about the new College Basketball game from EA Sports. Released in June, the teaser image for EA's new college basketball game had the publisher telling fans, "Bring the Madness. Let's run it back." Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back. #CBB #ItsInTheGame pic.twitter.com/iBNhGxn2yj A report from Matt Brown at Extra Points said the current timeline for EA Sports is, or was, to release the game sometime in 2028. This timeline matches up with what we saw when the return of the College Football series was originally announced. It took a few years for College Football 25 to be released following that initial announcement. As we previously mentioned, EA Sports would have been the lead developer and publisher behind this new college basketball game. In the competitive world of video games, EA was not the only publisher interested in trying to cash in on collegiate sports, but it looks like 2K Sports ate EA's lunch. 2K Sports is now building its own college basketball game and is already scanning players for it. But what happened to EA's own game? It seems like it was a pure free market decision, with schools simply opting to go with 2K over EA presumably due to better terms of some kind. Extra Points reports that EA Sports vice president of commercial partnerships and licensing Sean O'Brien has sent out a letter stating that the company "is disappointed that we all couldn't find an acceptable path forward." "Given there are some schools choosing to accept the 2K Sports proposal for inclusion in NBA 2K, the offer to be included in a college basketball video game will unfortunately have to be rescinded," O'Brien wrote. The Athletic reported that EA's offer required exclusive rights and was recommended by the Collegiate Licensing Company because it encompassed 730 teams (for men and women). As we previously mentioned, EA's proposal for the new college basketball game included a plan to feature every NCAA men's and women's basketball team. This means you should be able to play as any of the Division 1 teams in the college system. However, according to Matt Brown, teams still have to accept the request to be included in the new game, so it's possible that some teams opt out--and maybe this is all for nothing now that EA's game appears to be stalled, or dead. The announcement of a new college basketball game came as a slight surprise to the community given how long it's been since the last installment. EA Sports last developed a game in the series in 2009 with the release of NCAA Basketball 10. 2K Sports also had a college basketball series that ended in 2007 with College Hoops 2K8. Both franchises ended years ago for a variety of reasons, including legal complications with the NCAA. EA's new College Football series does not use the NCAA name, and it's expected the NCAA would similarly not be involved with the new college basketball games coming from EA and 2K. With the success of College Football 25 and now College Football 26, the market for college sports games has returned. EA Sports and potentially 2K will look to capitalize on the revitalization of the market, but it will take a few years before we see anything concrete.