@chirop1 This is 100% correct. The legalities surrounding this are a lot more complicated than many know as well. A lot of people on here are trying to make it surface level and say "but it makes no sense, EA just fix it!" It isn't that simple, and so far, none of the 'lawyers' that are hitting up this message board are providing any solutions. Shocking...
However, it doesn’t make sense to me (a non-lawyer) how we can create a player in one mode (RTG) but not another (dynasty). How would the legalities change based on the type of mode you’re playing?
And, there have been licensed sports games that allow you to create players and edit rosters for many years now. Madden releases with these features every single year. Why is Madden able to include this customization but CF cannot?
If there truly is a reason, that’s fine. But many people are simply asking to know if this will/could be patched. I know that it would take time to implement, but it would be nice to just know if there’s a possibility and if they have any intentions of adding it at some point.
My best guess as to the reason you can't do it in dynasty but can in RTG is simply volume (a single player vs the possibility of many players). But again, this is a guess as I am not a lawyer, but as I have mentioned before in other posts, if people don't think that EA hasn't thought about this or attempted to come up with a solution pre-launch, then that is very shortsighted. There are two different questions here - why isn't it in the game, and can it be patched. I would have to imagine that the answer to the second question is absolutely yes, it could be patched, IF there were ever a solution to the legal issues surrounding.
And the reason they are able to do it for Madden is EA has an agreement with the NFLPA which represents all players - there is no such organization for NCAA football players. Each school has jurisdiction over their own decision to be represented in the game (there were talks a year ago that Notre Dame hadn't even decided to be in the game), as does each player. This is similar to why Bill Belichick has never been in Madden, because he has never signed off on it - there is representative group for coaches like there are for players, thus each are responsible for granting their own rights.
But that seems to make it similar to Madden, not different. For example, if Marvin Harrison Jr. doesn’t join the NFLPA, does that mean Madden couldn’t allow create-a-player because someone could theoretically create a player with that name? If I create my neighbor and put him in Madden, could he sue EA because they didn’t pay him? That would mean that all creation tools in ALL games would be liable.
The lawsuit that ended NCAA seemed to focus on the fact that the generic players were obviously meant to mimic real-life people (general appearance, class, ratings, number, hometown…). EA had purposely used their “likeness” without paying them.
The situation you mention with MHJ could likely break the mold as it pertains to NFL players and their NIL in Madden IF he doesn't end up signing the GLA. Madden has not put restrictions on this previously, but because of this, they may have to going forward to CYA. MHJ may be the new-era Ed O'Bannon
