We were beginning to doubt whether we’d ever see the FIFA name return to the realm of video games after the football organisation cut ties with EA Sports back in 2022. It seems FIFA has been reluctant to dish out its license to just anybody, patiently awaiting the ‘right’ company to step in. Now, it has seemingly abandoned that notion and partnered with Netflix to launch the next FIFA game on the streamer.
“This summer, as the world gathers to celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2026, fans can play a newly reimagined FIFA football simulation game exclusively on Netflix Games,” the streamer wrote.
FIFA on Netflix was not on our bingo cards for 2025
We had high hopes, despite Netflix’s recent tendency to gobble up everything in its path (while crying that sharing passwords is hurting revenue). The game will be developed by Delphi Interactive and will be available to all Netflix subscribers. Our biggest question was whether this would be a full-fledged game or a, uh, mobile game.
Neither, apparently. Netflix’s FIFA will instead join the ranks of the streamer’s recently released titles, which are both mobile-based and also not. These can be played on a big screen but require a smartphone to control them. “Plus, you can play solo or with friends online: All you need is Netflix and your phone,” it continued.
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It’s never a good sign when you Google a gaming studio only to see “4 minutes ago” and a barebones website that claims to be “the architects behind 007 First Light with IO Interactive.” Still, we’re willing to give anything that might put EA Sports FC out of business a shot. Hell, at least it’ll fire up some competition.
That’s not to say Netflix and Delphi (or some other studio) won’t go on to build a true EA Sports FC competitor somewhere down the line. Neither Netflix nor FIFA mentions this in the initial announcement, but we’re willing to bet Netflix is pushing out anything to exploit on the FIFA World Cup 2026 hype, giving it some breathing room to develop something for console gamers sometime in 2027. Fingers crossed, anyway.
