FIFA is an organization that has spent years tearing down its sense of shame. The transparency with which the governing body of football has been a willing participant in sportswashing campaigns from dictatorial nations, gouged fans of the game for money, and sought to kiss up to the Trump administration has brought bile to the mouths of fans around the world. Meanwhile, FIFA has been hubristically clinging to the appearance of a beloved organization working hard for those who watch and play the game. Somehow, all of FIFA’s hubris, disregard for the sport, and focus on brand partnerships are epitomized in their football simulator released through Netflix.
The journey that led to FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition is fraught with self-sabotage. In the video game industry, the name FIFA was attached to EA Sports’ yearly offering that dominated the sports simulator industry and topped sales charts for all consoles on a regular basis. Some of EA’s light-gambling practices and incremental yearly alterations to the games meant they weren’t always seen as prestigious, but they had landed on a formula and a marketing approach that brought in an audience and offered enough variety for different types of players.
However, in 2023, EA announced that they were moving away from the FIFA branding due to the governing body taking a reported $1 billion every four years to license its name. In response, FIFA promised its own football simulator, which would rival what is now EA FC.
FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition is a competitor to EA FC in the same way that a sandwich I made from leftovers in my fridge is a competitor to McDonald’s. Not only does this game lack the quality of a AAA game, but it also lacks the fun spirit of a video game that would bring casual audiences in at all.
Picture Credit: Netflix
The most immediate and glaring problem with Launch Edition is the graphics and presentation. The menus are dull, and the actual games themselves feel like an oversaturated blend of generally football-like colors that just about amalgamate into a football pitch. Its messiness and unpleasantness come from an attempt to emulate a realistic football sim like EA FC but without the budget, time, or hardware to achieve it. Football fans would be familiar with great mobile games from the past, like New Star Soccer and Score Hero, games with very crude graphics that were forgivable due to the unique perspective of the games and the fact that the biggest sporting body on the planet didn’t have its name attached. Those games made fun gameplay loops out of their limited resources. Launch Edition just ended up as a worse version of EA FC.
Launch Edition’s messy graphics aren’t too intrusive on the gameplay because it moves much too slowly for you to not understand what’s going on. There is no opportunity for quick passes and all the players seem to sprint at the same leisurely pace. This means that there is very little room for variation in play styles. Once you find the way to win, you simply repeat that in every game, no matter what. This is exemplified in the lack of formations available in the game; only eight ways of setting up the teams exist.
Even less variation is available in the game’s controls. Launch Edition requires two screens to play: one is your TV or laptop, the other is your phone, which uses the Netflix Controller app. You’re given an analog cursor for your left thumb and a touch-sensitive square for your right. The limitations of this control scheme are already obvious. Spriting, passing and shooting are easy enough to pull off, if you really get into the game you can pull off the odd cross, lob and skill move (you seemingly have no control over which), but all of it feels unintuitive and unresponsive.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Having the freedom of a touch screen is at odds with how limiting Launch Edition actually plays. If you want to pass, you tap the screen. This automatically sends the ball to a predetermined highlighted player. But if you want to pass to a player that the game doesn’t select for you, you have to physically dribble over to them until the game recognizes them as the best option. That is just one way in which the controls are laborious.
Even small details of the game are incredibly frustrating. The commentary on the matches is weirdly out of step with what’s happening in the game in a way you wouldn’t expect from a FIFA game 20 years ago. It’s a small detail, but it cheapens the experience to receive the ball in midfield and have the comms screaming as if you’re through on goal.
The one mechanic that makes Launch Edition even resemble a video game is an upgrade system where, using coins earned by completing challenges in each match, you can boost a specific player’s stats. However, the actual gameplay isn’t deep enough for any of these changes to make a significant difference in the actual gameplay. All of your actions feel decided for you, so what help is boosting a player’s short pass stat?
Testei um pouco o FIFA da Netflix. Não é só o gráfico que é ultrapassado… olha essa IA kkkkkkk pic.twitter.com/bw9W4bWMRc
— Molan (@molantpk_) June 5, 2026
I played Launch Edition with my Xbox controller sitting right next to me and I couldn’t help but think “why am I not just playing the actual thing?” Launch Edition wouldn’t feel like such a disaster if it didn’t openly invite comparisons to EA FC, not only by using the FIFA license, but by trying to be a realistic football simulator. Without the budget to add any depth, you end up with a bunch of systems that haven’t already been done better on the game you probably already have.
Nobody interested in football video games is playing Launch Edition without already owning EA FC. By this time in the season, it has already been discounted heavily numerous times and been added to streaming services like Xbox Game Pass, PS Plus, and Amazon Luna. Right now, the game costs £20 on the Xbox store. The game being on Netflix doesn’t make it more accessible to the target audience.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Launch Edition is a misguided attempt at a AAA title when it would have been far more beloved as an emulation of the classic mobile games fans of football actually enjoy. It was clearly made with limited resources, and the developers were clearly not given enough support for their passion and ideas to come through. If FIFA is truly committed to becoming a beloved institution again, to upholding the integrity of the sport, to providing the best possible experience to fans and players, and to providing a true competitor in the football sim genre, then the solution is a simple one – care more.
