What will be featured in EA Sports College Football 25's Dynasty Mode?

On Wednesday, tons of details about gameplay in EA Sports College Football 25 were made public. Among those details was full information about the beloved Dynasty Mode.

Dynasty Mode was far and away the most popular feature of the NCAA Football series. Taking control of your favorite team or, for a lot of us, taking over a small time program and turning them into a perennial contender over several seasons was the best part of the game.

Naturally, Dynasty Mode is what fans have been most eager to learn about. Frankly, there's been a lot of anxiety from fans over the game mode because of how little attention it's Madden-equivalent, Franchise Mode, has gotten from EA over the past decade.

Madden's development has been almost entirely centered around Ultimate Team, an online, "user vs user" game mode that heavily encourages in-game purchases. Franchise Mode, on the other hand, has been pushed to the backburner, and fans looking to have an immersive experience taking over a NFL franchise have been left disappointed.

Many worried College Football 25's Dynasty Mode would suffer the same fate, but EA has made things very clear: Dynasty Mode is the primary focus of the game. And it will be more in-depth than ever before.

Dynasties can run for up to 30 in-game seasons and can support up to 32 user-controlled teams, both online and offline. Cross-play between Xbox and PlayStation users is not yet supported for Dynasty Mode.

According to reporting from Andy Staples of On3, Robby Kalland of UPROXX, and Chris Vanini of The Athletic, here are some of the finer details...

Fans have freedom to create custom conferences

Custom conferences were a beloved feature of the old game. The ability to take Hawaii to the Pac-12 or reunite rivals like West Virginia and Pitt allowed fans to truly create whatever version of the college football universe they longed for.

Fans can once again move teams into whatever league they like. Want to bring App State into the ACC after years of dominating the Sun Belt? You can do it. Think Texas and Oklahoma (and A&M and Mizzou for that matter) have no business being in the SEC? Send them back with their Big 12 brethren.

Fans will have full freedom over conference formats as well. Number of league games, protected rivals, and championship game locations are all customizable. Of note though, the 12-team College Football Playoff will be the only national championship format available.

Coaching progress is getting more detailed

As was the case previously, players can choose to start their dynasty as either a head coach, offensive coordinator, or defensive coordinator. Unlike previous game, as the head coach, you will now have the ability to hire and fire your coordinators.

Coach skill trees are back in the game, which players can develop over time. But now you must get more specific with your skillset. As a coach, you must choose between being a "tactician", a "recruiter", or a "motivator". As you excel in one area as a coach, be it play-calling or recruiting, you won't be as proficient in other areas, which more closely resembles real life coaches.

Recruiting will be much more realistic

Recruiting has also seen an overhaul that will make the process more realistic. Previous iterations of the game varied in terms of what actions were necessary to land recruits, but the commonality was that with enough effort, you could essentially sign any caliber of player from anywhere in the country no matter what program you were at.

That's a bit of an exaggeration, but signing 5-stars to a MAC school was more than possible after a few solid seasons. Even on the highest difficulty, building a doormat G5 team into a natty contender wasn't that hard to do because of the recruiting system.

That will no longer be the case. The caliber of recruit available to your program will far more closely resemble real life, and if you're at a smaller program, it's going to take several years of building before you can realistically start landing blue chip prospects. You will also be more limited to signing prospects within your school's recruiting pipelines (landing a player from across the country isn't as likely).

And because the game is putting more emphasis on the highest-rated players having a massive advantage over lower-rated players, turning a bottom-feeder into a winner will take a lot more work, which I think will be a much more rewarding experience for those wanting to build up a program.

NIL isn't in Dynasty Mode, but it kind of is

NIL isn't explicitly in Dynasty Mode. EA hasn't found a great way to implement the full NIL business into the game, largely because the legality of what can and can't be done according to NCAA and federal law keeps changing. So those who were hopeful to simply buy a bunch of 5-stars will be disappointed.

But NIL does have a role in Dynasty. Programs will be judged by their "brand exposure", and that will be a factor in recruiting, specifically for the top prospects. The best programs can offer the best exposure for recruits, which plays into the idea of needing to field a highly successful program before you can land big-time recruits.

Essentially, this is just NIL by a different name. But in terms of offering players funding through collectives or endorsement deals, you won't yet be able to do that.

The transfer portal has arrived

Another major change to CFB since the last video game is the advent of the transfer portal. In the old game, you'd have some players look to transfer out of your program, and you'd have the ability to attempt to convince them to stay (if you wanted to). But you had no control over incoming transfers. They would just show up randomly assuming you had a roster spot available.

Now, you'll have to manage the portal and how it impacts your team. Obviously you'll look to keep certain players on your roster from leaving you, but you will also be able to recruit out of the portal once the window opens to do so. And as a coach, you have to balance your high school recruiting with your portal recruiting, just like real coaches.

Dynasty Mode should be exactly what fans have been missing

Concerns about College Football 25 simply being a Madden-reskin should be alleviated at this point. It's clear EA took the time to make Dynasty Mode as good as in-depth an experience as fans could ask for.

Between growing as a coach, managing a roster, and building a program while still creating a desired college football world, it's all there for fans.