As part of its continued marketing efforts, EA Sports College Football 25 released another promo video Tuesday, this one highlighting one of the game’s most anticipated game modes: Dynasty.
What was in the video, and what did we learn about recruiting, roster management, the transfer portal, and Dynasty Mode as a whole?
EA Sports Releases Dynasty Deep Dive
The Kirk Herbstreit-narrated video, which can be viewed in its entirety below, focuses on the ins and outs of the wildly popular Dynasty Mode. In Dynasty, players can fulfill their dream of becoming a college football head coach by taking over a program and taking responsibility for every decision on the program while, of course, still playing the games.
The deep dive focused mainly on roster management, giving details about recruiting, the transfer portal, and realignment. Players can choose to start as the head coach of a program or start as an offensive or defensive coordinator, taking responsibility for just that side of the ball.
Coaches can have one of three archetypes: Motivator, Recruiter, or Tactician. These types influence the kinds of abilities and strengths each coach has. From there, coaches can unlock skill upgrades to improve various parts of the team or recruiting process.
What Is Recruiting Like in EA Sports College Football 25?
Recruiting is the lifeblood of Dynasty Mode, just as it is monumentally important in real-life college football.
“In a world of unlimited transfers, managing your roster has never been more important,” Herbstreit says.
Gamers will have the ability to recruit both through the high school ranks and in the transfer portal, both of which mirror real-life recruiting. More highly ranked recruits will come from recruiting hotbeds, like the examples of Metro Atlanta and South Florida that Herbstreit gives in the video.
As a coach, you and your school will have grades for 14 different types of pitches like proximity to home, brand awareness, and coaching prestige (much like the former games). Each recruit has different preferences and levels of importance for each pitch, and gamers will have to navigate the process of finding recruits who can both help the team and fit the recruiting strengths of the team and coach.
Recruits will slowly narrow down their lists to eight, five, and three teams until they decide on their future destination. As Herbstreit says, making those cutoffs is vital. Players will have to balance scouting for talent with finding recruits who fit their program.
A new feature is the “dealbreaker” feature. Some highly coveted recruits have a dealbreaker that automatically locks out teams that don’t meet the given criteria. This could be a certain level of prestige, roster talent, or something else entirely. Though few details were given, Herbstreit also says these will drive recruits to transfer.
Speaking of transfers, gamers will be able to attempt to persuade potential transfers to stay and recruit other players through the transfer portal. Like real life, transfer portal recruiting will occur in a shorter timeframe, making it difficult for gamers to crush the competition.
What Other Features Were Teased in the Dynasty Deep Dive?
Like past games, there’s a coaching carousel where gamers can search for jobs and head coaches can find assistants, but it was hinted that this will be expanded in EA Sports College Football 25.
Conference realignment also exists, and players can create their own superconferences or go for the nostalgia and create older conferences like the Big East and Pac-12.
There are likely many more features that were not talked about in the video. EA Sports College Football 25 will be available on July 19, with a deluxe version offering early access on July 16. College Football Network will have the latest on any new developments before the release.