According to unofficial information, 2K Games and FIFA were in talks about a new soccer simulation, but the whole thing fell through due to FIFA’s demands.
After EA Sports and FIFA ended their long-term cooperation, it was expected that FIFA would hire a direct competitor for future games in the form of the publishing house 2K Games. However, this did not happen in the end, as FIFA entered into a partnership with Netflix, due to which the official content for the 2026 World Cup was absent from the PC platform and consoles.
The reasons behind FIFA’s association with Netflix are somewhat unclear, but a report by Sports Gamers Online sheds more light on them.
It states how it is FIFA had advanced negotiations with publishing house 2K Gameswhich was to develop a new football simulation for them. Negotiations reached the stage where licenses and potential in-game mods were already being discussed.
2K Games is reportedly asked for a license for 10 yearsand along with the rights to the FIFA World Cup, they also demanded a FIFPRO license for soccer players in the package, which would open the door for club soccer as well.
But the negotiations ultimately failed. According to unofficial reports, FIFA wanted “faster and more profitable opportunities”. In translation, the development of a new football game for consoles and PC would take years, so instead of waiting, they decided to make a mobile game in cooperation with Netflix.
In the end, they also concluded it faster and better and published it as “Launch Edition” with the emphasis that the game will be developed later and filled with additional content. Of course, only if someone plays it. If not, it will end up in the graveyard of live service titles like many other failures.
