Fifa to arrive on Netflix | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast where. we go behind the headlines to look at a. story and find out why it really. matters. Hello, I'm Valerie Sanderson. and today Christmas has come early for. gamers. They've been celebrating after FIFA. announced it's teaming up with Netflix. to launch a new game after a. billion-dollar fallout with its old. partner EA games a few years ago. Joining me now is Laura Cress, one of. our tech reporters, and tell us more.

about the story and why it's causing. such a stir, Laura. Well, it's interesting because the FIFA. franchise is probably one of gaming's. biggest. At its height, it had around. 150 million people playing that game. It. was sort of the the main football game. really. There were other games, but that. was the main one. And so this news that. it's returning, because as you say, there was this fallout between uh the. governing body and the publishers. Electronic Arts, it disappeared in 2023.

Electronic Arts went away and made their. own football game. So the news that this. big big title is coming back has really. got a lot of fans excited. So how is it. going to work going forward? It's an interesting one because. obviously normally with the FIFA. franchise we'd expect to see that on. gaming consoles or on PCs. However, this. is just going to be for Netflix. So it's. going to be for Netflix subscribers. It's going to be free, but you will have. to have a Netflix subscription to play.

it. Uh you can play it on your own or. you can play it online. And the idea is. you go through the Netflix app, you play. it on your phone or with certain TVs, select TVs in certain countries, you can. also play on your TV using your phone as. a controller. And we don't really know. much more about the gameplay as opposed. to that. We just know at the moment. that's how it's going to be played. And when is all this going to happen? So we've been told that there will be. the game released ahead of the 2026.

World Cup, which of course makes a lot. of sense. You can imagine that perhaps. when there's a a match going on, people. are going to be on the way there to meet. their mates to watch the uh game and uh. on the way there maybe they could just. go on their phone and and they can have. a go on the game uh and see how it might. play out before they actually see it. properly at the World Cup. We don't know. if it's going to be released during the. World Cup or if it's going to be. released before. We've just been told. 2026 at the moment. How much of a risk. is this, do you think, for Netflix?

So Netflix has dabbled in games for. quite a while now. They started their. gaming platform in I think it was 2021. So it's not the first game they've. announced. I will say most people. probably aren't aware that Netflix do. have this gaming platform. Most of the. things they've been releasing before. have been titles that have already been. released elsewhere. Uh Grand Theft Auto, for example, you can play that on. Netflix if you want. But this is a bit. of a leap because it's a brand new game. in a very well-established franchise. So.

they are taking quite a risk with this. one. And how much of a risk is it, do. you think, for FIFA? Well, I can completely understand why. FIFA would want to have a title out just. before the World Cup or during the World. Cup. It It can't It makes perfect sense. for them. I I think in terms of them, they know people will probably want to. play their game. It's such a big. franchise. So maybe not as big of a risk. for them, but it is a very interesting. direction for them to go, to go for this. mobile focus direction. I I think that's.

quite unusual. I think most people are. expecting if there was going to be a. return for FIFA, that it would come back. to consoles and PC, but they've not gone. that way. You mentioned there'd been. this fallout between FIFA and EA. What. exactly happened there? So essentially Electronic Arts, EA, they'd been making the franchise since. 1993. 30 years they were making this. franchise. As I said, very very popular, very big uh in the games industry. In. 2022 they announced that they actually.

weren't going to be making any more. And. one of the main reasons behind that was. that costly license that they had to. take on from the governing body, from. FIFA. So they announced that they. weren't going to make it any more and. instead they were going to make their. own games and it was going to be called. EA Sports FC. And FIFA said they were. interested in making their own titles. and this is what we've seen from that. And what kind of money are we talking. about involved in this kind of thing? Well, I In general, the gaming industry.

is a huge huge industry. For example, I. I think just for 2025 it has been valued. at 300 billion dollars and that's just. projected to go up and up. I think by. 2020 by 2030 we're expected to see see. something such as 600 billion dollars. So it's it's a massive massive industry. It It's larger than music and film. combined. So you can see why Netflix. would want to position itself to be part. of this industry. And also of course.

FIFA, massive franchise as well. So the. two have come together. It really is. quite a big and exclusive deal. Is it your sense that people of all ages. are interested in this? It goes across. all demographics. Well, I I guess the thing that that FIFA. are banking on of course, and especially. this is probably why they are releasing. it during the World Cup or at least in. time for that, is that they're expecting. people to have football fever. People. want to play the game, they want to. watch the game, they want to play the. game. It is worth millions obviously.

football itself. And so why not a game. as well in the video game industry, such. a well-known name, such a well-known. franchise. I think certainly we can see. if it takes off and and that's the only. thing. It's quite a risk putting this as. a mobile-only game. And I have to say as. well with an unknown developer. We don't. know very well the studio that's making. this game. They're called Delphi. Interactive. However, they have never. made a video game before. So even that,

that's quite a bigger risk to be taking. as well. So who do you think they could. learn from? Well, I suppose the the obvious answer. there would be EA because they have been. making this game beforehand for 30. years. And it it is quite surprising. really that for FIFA and Netflix have. gone for this complete unknown. You. know, it's a very trusted franchise. It's very well-known. So perhaps they. wanted to to take a bit of a gamble. there and and go in a new direction.

Maybe we'll see a game that has the bare. bones of a FIFA game that we're used to, but maybe there'll be some interesting. original ideas in there that we perhaps. wouldn't have got if we'd gone with a. studio that's used to making these games. before. Now I said earlier, Laura, that. everyone was celebrating, but not. everyone is, are they? Tell us more. about the reaction to this. Yeah, it it's true. Reaction has been. quite mixed and I I guess it's. understandable just in the sense that. people are just unsure. There's a lot of.

uncertainty involved in this. A lot of. fans on social media, when I was looking. they were concerned about the mobile. focus. Uh you know, what's normally a. big flashy console or PC game with big. powerful graphics. How is that going to. look like just on a mobile phone? You. know, surely the performance of the game. will suffer, some people have been. saying on social media. So there's been. a lot of speculation. How is this going. to work? Some though have been willing. to give it a chance. I think there's a.

lot of people just hoping that they're. going to be able to rekindle the joy. they felt when they were playing these. games previously. And what's been the. industry reaction because you said it's. a risk on many levels. I think mainly again there's that. skepticism. There's the idea, well, this. is a completely unknown developer. The. thing they we can possibly bank on is. that Delphi Interactive, they are. actually in the moment making a game uh. the James Bond title 007 First Light. So. that's going to come out in March. So.

that might be a the marker as to what. they're thinking of, what they're like, their approach, what they're like as a. game developer. Because as a complete. unknown at the moment, the industry. doesn't really have much to go on. And what does this tell us, do you. think, about the gaming industry going. forwards? Well, I think it shows that as we've. been seeing for quite some time now, mobile gaming is just on the up and up. and there is this chance for big. franchises such as FIFA, such as other.

games such as Grand Theft Auto, for. example, to move across to these things. rather than just taking on the big. consoles, rather than taking on PC. Mobile gaming is there and it's perhaps. more freely available and more. accessible to a lot more people who. don't have a console, who don't have. these kind of quite expensive products. So I think it does show that perhaps. that market is just going to get bigger. and bigger and with original titles as. well. Thanks, Laura. That was Laura Cress, our.

technology reporter. And you can hear. more about the story on our Global News. podcast. Just listen wherever you get. your podcasts. And if you particularly. liked this episode, please do subscribe. to us here on YouTube. And if there are. other stories you want us to cover, please tell us in the comments below. That's it from us for now, but thanks. for listening and thanks for watching.