EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company have paid their way out of the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit, while the NCAA vowed to keep fighting, USA Today reported.

Announced Thursday evening, EA Sports said it would not produce a college football video game next year and had settled with O'Bannon. Details of the settlement were kept confidential as it is still pending court approval.

EA did not specify, but it is possible they will never produce another college football game again. The NCAA previously announced the two had cut ties permanently, but EA had said it would seek licensing from individual schools.

It is possible EA will not produce its college football video games as part of the settlement, but is highly likely that thousands of current and former college athletes will share tens of millions of dollars as a result.

EA was named in O'Bannon's lawsuit for using his name and likeness without compensating him for it. EA was not allowed to use real names in the video games because of the players' amateur status. Still, the players' avatars are still designed to look like them and names are often used in marketing the game itself. Collegiate Licensing Company was also named in the lawsuit because they handle the licensing of jerseys, memorabilia and more.

EA and CLC also settled with two other complainants, former Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller, whose lawsuit merged with O'Bannon's in 2009. While EA and CLC's settlement will give thousands of current and former student athletes a nice payday, the NCAA still has huge stakes in the case.

Justin Sievert, a lawyer with the Michael L. Buckner Law Firm, a sports law firm in Pompano Beach, Fla., told the New York Times the NCAA will still fight the lawsuit to protect amateurism in college sports.

"The NCAA has a lot more at stake in terms of what this is going to be to their organization than EA Sports did going forward," he said. "If the NCAA settles or loses at trial, that will change the whole amateurism system."

EA Sports has had little choice in the whole matter. After the NCAA announced it would no longer provide licensing for college football video games, three major conferences - the SEC, Big Ten and PAC-12 - followed suit.

"We have been stuck in the middle of a dispute between the NCAA and student-athletes who seek compensation for playing college football," Cam Weber, EA Sports' general manager for American football, wrote on the company's website Thursday. "Just like companies that broadcast college games and those that provide equipment and apparel, we follow rules that are set by the NCAA - but those rules are being challenged by some student-athletes."

The NCAA has seen its fair share of scrutiny recently, and not just for compensation of its student athletes. Mark Emmert, the NCAA's president, promised "a lot of change" in Division I's athletic governance. In the midst of all that change, Emmert promised student athletes would not lose their amateur status.