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# Just After CEOs Praised Netflix's FIFA Game, Its Developer Has Reportedly Been Shut Down
- URL: https://aftermath.site/netflix-delphi-fifa-layoffs-shutdown/
- Published: 2026-08-03T18:29:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-04T18:35:26.000Z
- Description: Both platform Netflix and publisher Delphi Interactive praised FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition in July
- Author: Riley MacLeod
- Tags: News, Labor, layoffs, FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition, netflix

Just a few weeks after Netflix praised its game *FIFA World Cup* on [an earnings call](https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc%5Ffinancials/2026/q2/Netflix-Inc-%5FEarnings-Call%5F2026-07-16T00%5F00%5F00%5FEnglish-1.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), and even less weeks after publisher [Delphi Interactive’s CEO Casper Daugaard](https://www.gamefile.news/p/delphi-interactive-james-bond-fifa-michael-eisner-disney?ref=aftermath.site) said the game was “doing extremely well,” *FIFA* developer Refactor Games has reportedly been shut down, according to [Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/report-refactor-games-shuttered-by-delphi-interactive?ref=aftermath.site). Delphi is part owner of Refactor, and workers claim the company pulled funding and that employees were let go.

“Delphi just pulled the plug on Refactor studios right after we shipped the *FIFA World Cup* game for Netflix. The entire studio was let go today,“ wrote an art director on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7489089038726049792/?ref=aftermath.site). “Last Friday marked the end of my chapter at Refactor Games as I was laid off along with the rest of the studio,” wrote a [senior producer](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7490066460682137600/?ref=aftermath.site). A senior UI artist [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7489769778430046208/?ref=aftermath.site) that “the studio’s parent company unfortunately pulled funding, and the entire team, myself included, was laid off.” A QA lead [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7490013556629848064/?ref=aftermath.site) that the company “is closing its doors after the highly successful launch of *FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition* on Netflix Games.” A technical artist, meanwhile, [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7490088520963776515/?ref=aftermath.site) that the company “had to lay off the vast majority of their studio, including me.”

Aftermath has reached out to Refactor for more information.

*FIFA* launched in June on Netflix, and while Luke [didn’t like it much](https://aftermath.site/fifa-world-cup-launch-edition-netflix-review-impressions/), a person familiar told [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/delphi-interactive-james-bond-fifa-michael-eisner-disney?ref=aftermath.site) the game had garnered 1.5 million players in its first week. While it doesn’t appear Netflix had anything to do with Refactor’s shutdown, that company *also* loves to praise the games on its platform and then axe their studios, having previously [closed *Squid Game: Unleashed* developer Boss Fight](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-boss-fight-closed/) days after hyping the game in an earnings call in October 2025\. 

Whether or not *FIFA* was actually any good is somewhat beside the point here. The point is that both Delphi and Netflix publicly *said* it was good, with Netflix claiming in its most recent [earnings call](https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc%5Ffinancials/2026/q2/Netflix-Inc-%5FEarnings-Call%5F2026-07-16T00%5F00%5F00%5FEnglish-1.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) that “*FIFA* and *Unhinged* became our 2 most successful cloud game debuts, really solid numbers that put it in the top tier of game performance for us.” Whatever actual numbers are behind Netflix calling the game “successful,” or what Delphi’s Daugaard meant by it doing “extremely well,” that these companies put up a proud front only for the axe to swiftly fall feels like one more example of the prevailing trend in the games industry today, where layoffs happen and studios get axed no matter *how* a game performs. And while *FIFA*’s popularity was tied to the World Cup, surely the studio had not suddenly outlived its usefulness now that the World Cup is over, if it has in fact been shut down. At the very least, Refactor currently has [an early access football game](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1488560/Football%5FSimulator/?ref=aftermath.site), which has “mostly positive” reviews on Steam. 

Delphi also had a hand in [*007 First Light*](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/meet-delphi-interactive-the-publisherdeveloper-behind-the-new-fifa-game?ref=aftermath.site). That game’s developer, IO Interactive, recently had [layoffs after Microsoft pulled funding](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/) for an in-development fantasy RPG.

**Update, 8/3/26, 7pm–** According to [Insider Gaming](https://insider-gaming.com/developers-fifa-world-cup-let-go-refactor-games/?ref=aftermath.site), some staff still remain at the studio. Insider Gaming reports that "the hope is to hire a number of let-go staff back in the near future for their other projects," and reports that laid-off employees were not offered severance. 

[Netflix, Just Pay People To Make Video Games, You Are Making This Needlessly ComplicatedThe adults are in the room again![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-0110a991-c9c4-4bc3-937b-e493f7962f50.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Untitled-1-1-7f5a5be9-3e6c-4bd0-9269-98bcf83dddac.png)](https://aftermath.site/netflix-video-games-fifa/)