Call it a historical moment in gaming for you pigskin fans, I suppose. 2K Games announced a deal with the National Football League (NFL) to release a number of new American football titles in the coming years. The first one will be published in 2021.

The last time 2K made an NFL game was back in 2004 when ESPN 2K5 came out. It came out at less than half the price of Madden NFL 2005. Since EA couldn’t handle the competition, they ended up signing an exclusive license deal with the NFL.

With this new deal long in the making, we do hope American football games take the turn for the better. Not many people were pleased with EA’s previous Madden entries despite good sales numbers, so here’s hoping a bit of competition will improve the scene.

Where does that leave EA?

Well, they’re still going to make Madden games. According to a recent statement about the NFL partnership, they will still be focused on making NFL simulation games. According to EA CEO-slash-fistbump-in-human-form Andrew Wilson, he told Polygon that they “still have a number of years left on our agreements there,” which will expire at the end of 2022.

Full press statement below:

“EA SPORTS is the exclusive publisher of NFL simulation games, and our partnership with the NFL and NFLPA remains unchanged. Our agreements have always allowed for non-exclusive development of non-simulation games on various platforms. Our commitment to NFL fans, which spans almost 30 years, has never been stronger, and we’re having our biggest year yet.

Madden NFL 20 is the most successful game ever in the franchise, and new modes like Superstar KO and our Madden NFL esports broadcasts are growing the fan base. We’ll be building on that momentum with more new and different experiences, on more platforms and with new ways to play, in the years to come.”