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Fifa will finally release its much-anticipated return to video games in 2026, several years after its acrimonious split with developer EA.<\/p>\n
But it is Netflix, rather than a major game studio, which has secured the rights to the upcoming football game.<\/p>\n
Once one of the most profitable brands in gaming history, issues including a costly licence prompted Fifa’s previous publisher Electronic Arts to stop using the name in 2023<\/a> – instead naming its best-selling game EA Sports FC.<\/p>\n Netflix said the new Fifa would be developed and published by Delphi Interactive – which has yet to release a video game – and released ahead of the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It said subscribers will be able to play online via the Netflix app on iOS and Android devices – or on select TVs by using their phone as the controller.<\/p>\n EA Sports released the first Fifa game in 1993, and ran the franchise for 30 years until moving away from the branding to create its own.<\/p>\n The series was estimated to have around 150 million players.<\/p>\n But the renamed game still connected with fans – with EA FC 24 being the best-selling game in the UK in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fifa president Gianni Infantino said the football governing body was “very excited” to team up with Netflix Games ahead of the World Cup in 2026.<\/p>\n “Our reimagined game truly marks the beginning of a new era of digital football,” he said. <\/p>\n “It will be available for free to Netflix members and is a great historic step for Fifa.”<\/p>\n California-based Delphi Interactive, the studio behind the game, is also working in partnership with IO Interactive on a new James Bond title, 007: First Light.<\/p>\n The firm’s boss Casper Daugaard said as “lifelong Fifa fans” it wanted to make the game “the most fun, approachable, and global football game ever created”.<\/p>\n Reaction to the announcement has so far been mixed, with some fans questioning whether the mobile-first focus from Netflix was the way forward for the franchise.<\/p>\n “FIFA should never have left EA,” said one person on social media site X<\/a>. <\/p>\n “Let’s see what the new game’s got.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n