We've had a lot of questions about College Football 25, so we've split the mailbag into two parts. Here's part one. Let's move on to part two.
That's great. What are your biggest concerns about the game that you've seen so far, or things that you'd be surprised are missing?
Thank you H.
I'm happy to hear that. This game has gotten nothing but praise so far due to excitement, but we've only scratched the surface. A select group got a three-hour trial in May, but that was just gameplay. We haven't played Dynasty yet. We haven't played Road to Glory. There's just so much we haven't been able to try. That's why in my post about the trial last week, I made sure to mention that it wasn't an official review because we hadn't played most of the game.
Over the years, many gamers have grown increasingly frustrated with EA Sports. The rise of microtransactions and other attempts at revenue generation, combined with various game bugs, has spawned a vocal anti-EA group. We hear you:
If I had to choose, I'd be most worried about the game having bugs. The game has already been delayed a year from its original release date, So As a brand new title, with so much effort put into it, there will inevitably be things that don't work as intended. Patches and downloadable content (DLC) can be used to make up for that and fix any issues, but some of the most high profile video games in recent years, such as Cyberpunk 2077, proved to be too buggy at launch. I hope that's not the case, and I know that the people working on this game genuinely love it and are trying to make the best game they can.
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Will there be FCS and/or D2 teams added in future games and/or DLC?
Dan G
Several FCS schools have publicly stated that they want to be in the game, and of course they are. NCAA Football games began using generic turn signals in place of actual opponents years ago. Those generic FCS turn signals are back in the game, but without the specific schools.
There are a few reasons for this. First, adding 120+ teams would be a lot of work, which would increase the game's file size, and there's a lot of stuff that already has to be rebuilt to release this game on time. Second, adding these schools would be harder this time around because of the NIL factor. While EA could license the teams, they wouldn't want to offer a North Dakota State team without the actual players, and it would cost millions more to license these additional FCS players. This is part of the reason the game was scrapped in the first place.
Those discussions are already happening: Talk of adding HBCU and Celebration Bowls separate from the rest of the FCS season has been informally discussed as something some at EA are willing to do, but that could be very time-consuming and expensive, perhaps at some point in the future.
Can non-user teams play all games in Dynasty mode? For example, if I'm playing Dynasty with Texas, can I still play the Iron Bowl and The Game?
Brandon S.
No. This was possible in the older games, but I checked with EA Sports and they told me that in the new game, Dynasty, you can only play with selected teams.
Going deeper
I played two hours of College Football 25, and here's what I learned:
The best thing about your last NCAA game was your option game, you didn't block players so you could mesh and read the pitch when running a triple option play, does this still work?
Jay B.M.
The option game and playbook variety is why NCAA is so much more fun than Madden, and there's no doubt that this is a better, more fun game than ever before. I spent a lot of time working on the option game as an Air Force and Wake Forest player. The option game is deeper than ever before, with four different RPO plays. It takes some getting used to, but it's a lot of fun. Don't worry, the option game is still a big feature.
What other traditions do you think may or may not have been cut (like the Utah loudness moment and other relatively recent ones)? Kansas' current stadium is even more vandalized than Vanderbilt's, is that the old booth or something that's been updated?
Zach S.
I can't speak to all the traditions because I wasn't able to survey all the teams, but I would say that any traditions that involve licensed music probably wouldn't make the cut. “Enter Sandman” and “Jump Around” aren't in the game because it would be very expensive to use those songs. Things like that.
As for stadiums, Vanderbilt University's renovated stadium will be featured in the game, Kansas University will play in their pre-renovated stadium at release (we'll update that later), and Northwestern University will play in the old Ryan Field.
Your explanation of dynasty player acquisitions sounds very similar to player acquisitions in recent games. Are there any major changes to the feature other than a slight emphasis on the transfer portal?
Dan M
Depending on your definition of “big,” this latest game has more attention to detail, like the fact that inviting multiple quarterbacks on the same weekend can actually lower your standings; losing to a weaker team or winning against a stronger team can negatively or favorably affect an official visitor more than in the past; athletes return as position groups, and recruiting pipelines can include cities.
Personally, I'm interested to see how good the computer-generated player acquisition is. I'm not the kind of guy who wants to spend more time on player acquisition than playing the actual game. My golden age was the mid-2000s, when player acquisition was only done in the offseason and was simplified. But there are plenty of people who like to be deeply involved in player acquisition. Player acquisition now has more features, such as portals, but the basic setup remains the same.
How do you handle protected rivalries in a dynasty? If you expand the conference, can you change or edit annual opponents?
Sam H.
You can set how many games you want protected and who the opponents are. As part of the conference customization, you can customize who is in the conference and how it works, from how many games the conference will play to who will host the championship game. Dynasty mode starts with actual protected games for each league, but you can change the number of games and opponents without expanding the conference.
When it comes to custom schedules while in Dynasty mode, conference games cannot be changed from year to year like non-conference games can.
Going deeper
What's in College Football 25's Dynasty mode? Everything we know
I know there will be a maximum of 20 teams per conference, but can they be organized in different ways – pods, divisions, protected opponents with no divisions/pods etc?
Matthew P.
To expand on the answer above, you can create divisions in meetings where they don't exist, and you can also remove divisions from the few meetings that still have them.
Can you edit playbooks or create your own plays? I commented on the other article and I don't remember it being an old feature so I assumed the answer was “no”, but it would be great if that was an option. That's next level.
Zach C.
There will be custom playbooks and custom audibles, which elicited applause from the avid gamers in attendance during the presentation. Custom audibles won't be available at launch, but will be built into the game, much like NCAA Football and Madden have offered them in the past. Nothing was said about play creation, and we don't expect that, as that has never happened in NCAA or Madden. However, there will be a huge selection of plays to choose from to put into your custom playbooks.
But I agree that it would probably be fun to create new plays from a given set of formation and route options.
Is the playoff format customizable? Number of teams, location, etc.?
Brian S.
I think this is a no. When the presentation explained the role of the CFP in Dynasty mode, the idea of customizing the format was not raised. The game's CFPs, as far as we know, will be built into a rotation of real-world locations, meaning that, for example, Atlanta won't always host the national championship game. Furthermore, for the foreseeable future, stadiums will rotate in the way that EA Sports envisions them playing out in the real world.
Can I change the coaches' names to, say, Lane Kiffin? Or will the game block that as well, like when I tried to change “random guy from Texas” to “Arch Manning”? Basically, can I go into the game and change all of the coaches' names to the names of actual coaches at CFB?
Dylan J.
In Dynasty, you won't find yourself in that situation because you can only name individual coaches, not all of them. The previous option to name all of the coaches is gone. This is for the same reason there are restrictions on players: EA Sports didn't want to get into legal trouble with licensing. So, can I call myself Lane Kiffin and be the head coach at Ole Miss? Probably. The coaching details will be different from the players. But you won't be in a situation where you can name all of the coaches.
If you take a coordinator job, are you only going to call plays on that side of the ball?
Oliver G.
Yes, that was the case in the old games and it remains the same in the new games.
Can they hire position coaches and support staff, or will it just be a head coach and offensive and defensive coordinators?
Brendon F.
Just the coordinator, but this is the first time this has appeared in the game, and the possibility of poaching coordinators from other schools sounds really fun to me.
In Dynasty mode, does player wear and tear carry over from game to game? If a player has a chronic injury and is still able to play, will that be an ongoing issue throughout the season?
Ben Y.
It remains to be seen how attrition will affect the Dynasty from week to week, but the game has had a long injury report and chronic injuries that could impact players' availability throughout the season.
Attrition plays a big role for each player on the Road to Glory. Attrition will continue throughout the season. If you're a scrambling quarterback, you'll need to avoid hits more than usual. On option plays, you're better off handing the ball over more.
If player fatigue is a real factor in games, does that mean that player substitutions are important/valuable enough to stall gameplay (I'm thinking D-line rotations, etc.)?
Jonathan D
It depends on the length of the game you're playing. If you're playing five minute quarters, it's not as big a factor. But if you're playing longer games, substitutions become more important.
What bowl games are included? Is there a bowl creation feature?
Nina F.
As we first announced back in March, all bowl games will be in the game. Yes, the Pop-Tarts Bowl will be in the game. The Arizona Bowl will also be in the game in March, but at the time it was sponsored by Barstool Sports. It has since changed to the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl by Gin and Juice, and the game will feature updated branding in place of Barstool branding. EA Sports made sure that the reference to Gin and Juice would not impact the game's E for Everybody rating.
There's no bowl creation feature, something we didn't have before.
(Screenshots courtesy of EA Sports)
