What happened to Refactor Games?

According to multiple former staffers as reported by Game Developer, Refactor Games was shut down by part-owner Delphi Interactive shortly after the studio shipped FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition for Netflix Games in June 2026.

What games did Refactor Games make?

Refactor Games' debut release was Football Simulator, which entered early access in 2022. The studio later worked with Delphi Interactive on FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition, which launched exclusively on Netflix Games in June 2026.

Refactor Games shut down after shipping FIFA World Cup for Netflix

Q: Has Delphi Interactive commented on the closure?

As of the reporting by GamesIndustry.biz, neither Delphi Interactive nor Refactor Games has responded to requests for comment, and the total number of affected employees has not been confirmed.

A studio gone the day the job was done

Refactor Games, the US studio behind the Netflix-exclusive FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition, has reportedly been shuttered by part-owner Delphi Interactive. The news came not from an official press release but from the LinkedIn feeds of people who suddenly found themselves out of work.

“Delphi just pulled the plug on Refactor studios right after we shipped the FIFA World Cup game for Netflix,” one former employee wrote on LinkedIn, as reported by Game Developer. “The entire studio was let go today, so if anyone is looking for talent, I can put you in contact with [some] pretty awesome folks.”

A second affected worker offered a similar account, saying the closure followed a loss of funding. “After shipping the FIFA World Cup Launch Edition for Netflix Games, the studio’s parent company unfortunately pulled funding, and the entire team, myself included, was laid off,” they said. The exact number of people affected has not been confirmed. Neither Delphi Interactive nor Refactor Games has responded to requests for comment, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

Who was Refactor Games

Refactor was not a long-standing outfit. The studio’s first public project was Football Simulator, a title that released into early access in 2022. Its team drew from notable backgrounds, including former developers at EA Sports, 2K Sports, and OneTeam Partners. That pedigree helped the studio land a significant opportunity: working with Delphi Interactive on a licensed FIFA World Cup title for Netflix Games.

Delphi confirmed its part-ownership of Refactor during an interview with GamesIndustry.biz earlier this year. FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition shipped in June 2026, exclusively on the Netflix Games platform.

Mixed reception, quick ending

Netflix described the game as a “top tier” performer on its platform, which makes the studio’s fate feel all the more abrupt. Reviewers, though, were less enthusiastic. Criticism focused on the game’s controls, graphics, and poor player AI, which is a rough set of complaints for a football title built around the sport’s biggest tournament brand.

Whether the game’s reception influenced Delphi’s decision to withdraw funding is not clear from the available reporting. The timing, at least, is stark: the studio shipped the game and was gone shortly after.

The wider picture

Refactor’s closure lands in a period that has not been kind to smaller studios across the industry. The shuttering follows a pattern that has become grimly familiar: a team builds toward a single major release, ships it, and then loses the financial backing needed to continue. For the developers who put years into a project and walked away with nothing but a layoff notice, the circumstances barely matter.

For now, former Refactor staff are doing what laid-off developers have always done, posting publicly, networking, and hoping the connections they built across years at EA Sports and 2K Sports lead somewhere new. The LinkedIn posts make clear the team is proud of what they shipped. Whether anyone picks up the FIFA World Cup license for a follow-up, or whether Netflix pursues another football partner, remains an open question.