Refactor Games, the US studio behind Netflix’s FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition, has laid off around 80 people after part-owner Delphi Interactive pulled its funding — less than two months after the game shipped.
The football sim launched in June as a Netflix Games exclusive. Critics were unimpressed: reviews picked at the controls, the graphics and the player AI. Netflix saw it differently, telling investors on its July earnings call that FIFA and fellow debut Unhinged were “our 2 most successful cloud game debuts, really solid numbers that put it in the top tier of game performance for us” — a line Game Developer had already flagged as striking given the reviews. Delphi’s chief executive, Casper Daugaard, told GameFile the game was “doing extremely well”; the outlet reported 1.5 million players in its first week.
Praised, then pulled
Staff were told in a general meeting on Friday, July 31. Anonymous sources told Insider Gaming the decision came without warning: funding ended immediately, no severance was offered, and that day’s payday was the final paycheck. Refactor, the sources said, intends to regroup and hopes to rehire a number of the people it let go — a plan, those laid off note, that was not mentioned in the meeting itself.
The sequence is familiar: Netflix called the game a top-tier hit on July 16; two weeks later its developer was gone. The company closed Squid Game: Unleashed studio Boss Fight in October 2025, days after hyping the game on an earnings call. Bloomberg reported the FIFA project was delayed several times and carried a budget in the hundreds of millions — a bill that may have looked harder to justify once the tournament it was built around had ended.
Refactor had deeper roots than one tie-in. Staffed by veterans of EA Sports and 2K Sports, it shipped Football Simulator into early access in 2022, and the project had already made news when the creator of Metal Gear Solid 5’s engine joined the team (read our earlier report).
The game stays put
FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition remains on Netflix, UAE included, playable through the app and cloud streaming. Neither Netflix nor Delphi has said what happens to it next.
FAQ
What is Refactor Games?
A US studio founded by developers who previously worked at EA Sports, 2K Sports and OneTeam Partners. Its debut title, Football Simulator, entered early access on Steam in 2022.
What is Delphi Interactive?
The publisher-developer behind FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition and a part-owner of Refactor. It is also working with IO Interactive on 007 First Light, and is led by chief executive Casper Daugaard.
Will FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition stay on Netflix?
Netflix has not announced any change. The game remains playable on the service — a studio closure does not automatically remove a title — though the outlook for further updates is unclear.
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