First of all, thank you!
Before we get into the details, I want to give a sincere thank you to everyone who has played Football Coach: College Dynasty during this Early Access period. The community feedback has been invaluable during development, allowing me to add new features I never would have thought of, tweak existing ones, and fix pesky bugs found by you all. Thank you for being part of this journey to create the college football management game I've always dreamed of!
1.0 Release Date
I'm excited to announce that Football Coach: College Dynasty v1.0 will be launching on January 16th, 2025!
This leaves three months of Early Access development left, allowing me to add a couple big updates, add better Steam integration, and polish the game for the full 1.0 release. I had originally intended the game to release to 1.0 before the end of 2024, but after taking stock of what needs to be done, and accounting for general holiday chaos, I decided to push it to January and give myself time to really feel good about the game prior to 1.0. January 16th is the Thursday prior to the 2025 National Championship Game, so I think it will be a great last hurrah for the season.
You can read more about the roadmap leading to 1.0, and afterward, below.
A look back...
Football Coach: College Dynasty has come a long way since its initial release in December of 2022. Here are just a few highlighted features that have been added since EA launch:
- Custom logo support
- Player, coach, and recruiting class imports
- Totally revamped depth chart, game plan, and substitution system
- Recruiting enhancements, like scheme fit, bonus priorities, fog of war, and more
- League and conference news
- New playbooks, like Air Raid, Pistol, and Option
- Ceremonies for player awards and playoff seed reveals
- Certified Classics, full game logs, win% charts, and more
- Coach contracts and better retirement
- And much much better UI across almost every page
All these changes have been made possible by the game's success during Early Access. It has allowed me to make this my full-time job and really pursue this head on. Thank you to all the early access supporters!
The new price
Given the growth of the game since its initial release, and in preparation for 1.0, I've decided to increase the game price to $19.99 starting on October 21st. This is not a decision I take lightly, but I do feel confident in the replayability of the game and the niche it fills. The average playtime is over 70 hours (!!!), so if this is your type of game, I believe you'll get great value out of it.
One may ask, why increase the price now, instead of when 1.0 is released? Due to Steam restrictions, I can't offer a "Launch Discount" if the price is raised at the time of the 1.0 launch; any price increase needs 30 days before a promotion can be run. If you're on the fence right now, you can always wait until that "Launch Discount" or other Steam-wide sales to purchase. Thank you for your understanding!
Roadmap to 1.0
Finally, I want to give a brief peek behind the curtain for the development of the game leading to the 1.0 release. The plan (as of today) is to release three major content updates prior to the release.
- 1st update: In-game playcalling improvements, new play game page
- 2nd update: Advanced scouting
- 3rd update: Steam integration (achievements & workshop), polish for 1.0
They should arrive monthly, with small updates in-between if needed. Each update will have smaller improvements as well, but I want to keep it vague for now so as not to promise when exactly certain features will arrive. Here's a sneak peek of the first update, featuring the new play game page and audibles (UI subject to change):
Q & A
Why increase the price before the 1.0 launch?
Due to Steam restrictions, I can't offer a "Launch Discount" if the price is raised at the time of the 1.0 launch; any price increase needs 30 days before a promotion can be run.
I already have the game, does the new price affect me?
Nope! If you already purchased the game, my sincere thanks! You will retain ownership through 1.0 and all subsequent updates.
Will you support the game after 1.0?
Yes, the game will be supported for a time after the 1.0 release. There are some features that will be coming post-launch, so stay tuned.
When is the Mac release coming?
The Mac release will be arriving after the 1.0 release in January. It will be my #1 priority after the release, so I am hoping that Mac support will be added in February 2025.
Thank you again! It's been a blast developing this game, and I hope it's been just as fun to play too. Cheers!