Netflix are releasing a new FIFA game before the 2026 World Cup

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 17/12/2025

Netflix has partnered with football governing body FIFA to release a new video game after its split with EA Sports.

EA’s FIFA era is officially over after FIFA 23, the last game with the FIFA-namesake, closed its online servers.

However, don’t get too excited. The new FIFA game will be mobile only and very different to EA FC games.

The game will be playable exclusively on the Netflix mobile phone as long as players have an active subscription.

This new FIFA title will be developed by Delphi Interactive, a rather inexperienced studio whose only public work is helping IO Interactive on the upcoming James Bond AAA title, First Light 007.

Netflix’s statement describes the football simulation game as: “fast to learn, thrilling to master, and built for anyone to jump in.”

The game will be playable both solo and online with friends and will release in time for the start of the 2026 World Cup.

With that timeline in mind, we can expect the football game to release by June 11th, 2026 at the latest.

This won’t be FIFA’s only gaming collaboration for the 2026 World Cup either.

FIFA has agreed a multi-year partnership with Football Manager for a fully licensed World Cup mode.

Speaking about the upcoming Netflix game, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said:

“This major collaboration is a key milestone in FIFA’s commitment to innovation in the football gaming space, which aspires to reach billions of football fans of all ages everywhere in the world and will be redefining the pure notion of simulation games.

“Our reimagined game truly marks the beginning of a new era of digital football. It will be available for free to Netflix members and is a great historic step for FIFA.”

What will EA Sports FC 26 do for the 2026 World Cup?

Having lost the FIFA partnership, the international football offering in EA FC games has been severely lacking.

In fact, EA FC 26 doesn’t have enough international teams for a World Cup mode.

New Zealand was removed after FC 25, so there are only 28 teams in the game which is not enough for a classic 32-team tournament, let alone the new 48-team format in 2026.

Despite this, the expectations are that EA FC 26 will have some form of World Cup mode.

At the very least, there will probably be World Cup-themed Ultimate Team cards and then an offline tournament mode.

Though some players still miss the separate World Cup Ultimate Team mode like in FIFA 14 and FIFA 18.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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