March Madness Gets a New Name

NCAA Strategies, which has received a copy of NCAA Football 09 for the PS3, mentioned today that within the previews presented on the game is a quick trailer which lets on to a name change for the March Madness franchise. It will now simply be known as NCAA Basketball. It looks like Fred @ SG was actually the first to notice.

2K Sports’ decision to end their College Hoops franchise opened up the door for this change. It makes sense in that the name matches the football branding and it will be more easily understood as the only college basketball game on the market (which it is at least for the time being). This is a critical year as EA will be looking to provide a product that can satisfy those gamers who may have purchased College Hoops instead. A disappointing release would make it even tougher to recapture them in the future.

Also of note is that NCAA Basketball 09 will release in November. While this has generally been the norm, the past two releases of March Madness have come in January and December.