FIFA’s Post-EA Comeback: Netflix to Launch a Reimagined Football Game for the 2026 World Cup
Ddos 
Since FIFA ended its nearly 30-year partnership with EA in 2022, EA has successfully rebranded its football empire as EA Sports FC. FIFA, however, has conspicuously failed to deliver a “canonical” football simulation capable of rivaling it.
That changed with a recent announcement from Netflix, which confirmed that FIFA’s first football simulation of the “post-EA era” will be released exclusively under the Netflix Games banner. Described as a “reimagined FIFA football simulation,” the title is being developed by Delphi Interactive and is slated for release in 2026—perfectly timed to coincide with the global excitement surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Although Netflix refers to the project as a “simulation game,” the details revealed so far suggest that it may differ markedly from the hardcore experiences players associate with FIFA 23 or EA FC 24.
The most striking departure lies in its control scheme: the new FIFA game is designed to use smartphones as controllers.
According to Delphi Interactive CEO Caspar Daugaard, the guiding philosophy behind the project is to “allow anyone, anywhere, to pick up the game easily and immediately feel the magic of football.” This implies a deliberate simplification of mechanics to suit touchscreen input—potentially aligning the game more closely with a party-game sensibility than with the meticulous ball control and tactical depth of traditional football simulators. Since parting ways with EA, FIFA has repeatedly vowed to develop an all-new flagship football simulation with a new partner, with rumors at various points pointing to a collaboration with 2K Games—none of which ever materialized. In recent years, the FIFA brand has instead been licensed to smaller, more arcade-like or blockchain-oriented titles such as Mythical Games’ FIFA Rivals and ENVER’s FIFA Heroes.
Choosing to partner with Netflix this time suggests that FIFA recognizes the steep challenge of confronting EA FC head-on in the console and PC markets, and is instead pursuing a differentiated point of entry. For Netflix, the project likewise reflects a strategic shift in its games division after 2025. Following the closure of its internal AAA studio and the cancellation of several large-scale projects, the company has refocused its efforts on party-style games and adaptations of film and television properties.
For Delphi Interactive—a young studio previously involved in IO Interactive’s 007 First Light—the task is clear: to leverage the global prestige of the FIFA brand to deliver a low-barrier, highly interactive football experience tailored for Netflix subscribers.
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