For football fans, the World Cup is the pinnacle of the sport—an exciting event that, despite FIFA's ongoing controversies, remains a cornerstone impossible to replicate. If you're into gaming, you know this used to mean one thing: licensed World Cup games that, more often than not, were serviceable enough for those who got wrapped up in the spirit of the competition and wanted to take their nation to unimaginable, virtual glory.
The bar wasn't high by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, FIFA World Cup Launch Edition is so terrible, uninspired, and insulting to fans of the beautiful game that it makes you wonder whether the title was just vibe-coded by AI so the streaming giant could grab a piece of the World Cup hype. Ref, call the VAR on this one and revert those licenses back to EA.
If you don't know what happened to the FIFA license, here is a quick rundown: EA and FIFA split years ago, which is why EA Sports FC was renamed in 2023. Then, in December 2025, FIFA revealed it was partnering with Netflix, of all companies, on a football video game. What could go wrong?
Turns out, everything.
FIFA World Cup Launch Edition is barely a game. You see, it's included with your Netflix subscription, but unlike many other games on the service that are surprisingly worth your time (including the mobile version of Football Manager 2026 if you crave a sim on the go), this title can only be accessed via your PC or SmartTV, making it a streaming-only experience.
You'll need your smartphone to serve as a controller. Once you boot up the game, the standard A and B buttons appear on your screen. If you think this is how you play your matches, you'd be entirely wrong; this setup is just used to navigate the menus. For actual gameplay, the controller switches to a blank touchpad. There are no button prompts; instead, you swipe and tap to pass, shoot, defend, and cross. It's a hideous system devoid of any nuance.
You tap to pass the ball. If you want a through ball or a cross, it's a swipe—but be careful not to swipe toward the goal, as it will count as a shot. Dribbling? Forget about it. Players can barely sprint, as you need to tap and hold the pad to do so. This means passing or executing through balls at high speeds is quite literally impossible, as you are forced to lift your finger off the touchpad.
There are absolutely zero redeeming qualities to this system. There is nothing to entice improvement and no depth to the game's tactics.
Unsurprisingly, that total lack of depth carries over to the available modes. There is your standard Kick-Off, which lets you play as all of the national sides that qualified for the World Cup and use every stadium in the tournament, and a Tournament mode, where you pick a national team and play through the bracket.
And... that's it. That is the entire wealth of content on offer. I guess the soundtrack is a minor positive amid all the mediocrity, as it features some classic FIFA bangers from years past.
Visually, it looks worse than a generic mobile game. There are no transitions between sequences, resulting in jarring cuts when the second half arrives or when a throw-in happens. The clear lack of polish in every single aspect just makes me wonder if the developers half-assed it so badly they simply told Claude to program a World Cup game and prayed Netflix higher-ups wouldn't notice (they likely didn't).
Part of the appeal of a World Cup licensed game is actually enjoying the presentation: seeing the matchday graphics, the national anthems play out, get yourself immersed in the spirit of the competition. This game completely missed the mark. Look at the lineup graphic for instance.
Some games went above and beyond that. As I said, in its prime, the World Cup licensed games by EA would let you play as almost every national team affiliated to FIFA and start your journey from the qualifiers all the way to the finals. None of that is present here, of course.
You can't even customize the tournament by adding different teams or swapping them around. It's as barebones as you can imagine, I'm surprised they even bothered adding the smidge of flair the game has that at leats lets you know this is based on the 2026 World Cup.
The only semblance of progression involves winning matches to earn currency and improve the rating of your favorite players. That's it.
In all honesty, at a time in which a dozen football games are competing for your attention, it's a complete waste of time to even consider giving FIFA World Cup Launch Edition a lick of attention.
Have a Nintendo Switch 2? I highly suggest you check out eFootball Kick-Off! instead. Good gameplay and visuals for just $20. Alternatively, if you have EAFC 26 already, or managed to snag it as part of the recent PS+ deals on PlayStation 5, just boot up The World's Game update. It's not particularly good, but playing five minutes of FIFA World Cup will put into perspective that it can always get worse.
FIFA World Cup Launch Edition promises more updates down the line. Unless those updates include completely scrapping what's here and making a new game altogether, they'll hardly be worth it. It's such a terrible experience that it doesn't even justify its existence as a free add-on for Netflix subscribers.