news that New FIFA game coming to Netflix in 2026 This was a partnership between two famous celebrities.

Less well known is Delphi Interactive, the company listed as having “developed and published” the aforementioned sports project.

Save 1 Variety interview The company’s involvement in IO is rarely discussed otherwise. Sign the James Bond Licensethere was a valuable little piece of information there. Its presence on LinkedIn (by no means a perfect source of information, but often indicative of a company’s status) suggested that the company was not hiring developers. We took a closer look.

Founded in 2020, Delphi is a gaming company based in LA. Casper Daugaard, CEO and Founder, said: GamesIndustry.biz “We license, finance, develop, and publish games built around the world’s most iconic IP,” the company said in an email.

“But we do it outside of the traditional publisher model, which we affectionately call the ‘publisher-industrial complex,'” he says.

Daugaard believes the publishing industry is “quite slow and risk-averse” and “very concentrated” in a small number of companies and their own IP. The purpose of Delphi, he says, is to bring existing assets into the world of video games. It started with the James Bond series, but hasn’t been in the space since Activision ran the IP exclusively from 2007 to 2012. 007 Legend. call of duty giant According to reports, he paid $70 million in rights fees..

“Delphi’s mission is to be the fastest, boldest, and most creatively tailored gaming partner for the world’s most iconic brands,” he says.

Partner and executive producer Théodore Tan-Péronard says there is a “growing structural mismatch” between publishers and IP holders. The problem facing the licensed games industry, he and Delphi believe, is that many large publishers are so focused on their own assets that IP holders are finding it difficult to find companies that “truly put them first.”

“At the same time, licensors are much more sophisticated when it comes to games than they were 10 years ago, and they understand the medium, the economics, and the long-term value,” Tang-Peronard says.

As for how these partnerships come about, Daugaard says it comes down to imagination.

“Rather than starting with a pitch deck, we start with a question: What games do you wish already existed?” he explains.

“That’s how First Light was born. We loved what Rocksteady did with Batman: Arkham and what Insomniac did with Spider-Man, but we couldn’t understand why no one else had done something similar with James Bond. So we decided to go back to first principles and create this ourselves with the right partners.”

Until recently, Delphi’s involvement in IO Interactive’s James Bond projects has been fairly quiet. But the company says it has been deeply involved from the beginning, even before Hitman Studios came on board. The developer teased the game – Then named Project 007 – November 2020. Scheduled to be released later in May.

“For that project, Delphi originated the concept, secured the license from MGM/Danjaq, engaged IO Interactive as developer and publisher, and provided funding for Vertical Slice,” says Tang-Peronard.

“Based on what we learned from 007, we decided to further build on Delphi’s internal development and publishing capabilities as we embark on new projects such as FIFA.”

“IO was a natural partner; they are a world-class developer and a proven publisher with the infrastructure to deliver games of that scale. Based on what we learned from 007, we decided to build further internal development and publishing capabilities at Delphi as we embark on new projects such as FIFA.”

As for the latter project, “Delphi has evolved into a full-fledged developer and publisher,” says Tang-Peronard. “We believe in a lean, experienced core team supported by best-in-class co-development and outsourcing partners.” For FIFA, this includes: refactoring the gamebased in Delphi’s Los Angeles headquarters, is partially owned by Delphi and backed by venture capital giant A16z’s Speed ​​Run Fund. Founded in 2021 and launched physics-focused American football titles football simulator The studio employs graduates from VR developer Survios and blockchain developer N3TWORK.

“Delphi is leading creative direction, production, technology and publishing, leveraging partners that accelerate quality and speed,” Tang-Peronard explains.

Delphi’s own development capabilities were recently strengthened with the addition of Chief Technology Officer Julien Merceron. He is a 30-year veteran of the gaming industry having worked for major companies such as Ubisoft, Eidos (as Worldwide CTO), Square Enix, Konami (oversaw the development of the Fox Engine), and Bandai Namco.

Delphi already has two large IPs under its umbrella, James Bond and FIFA, both of which have the potential to be very lucrative, but some major hurdles need to be cleared. The former, long owned by the Broccoli family and notoriously protective of its franchise, recently sold it to global giant Amazon. Meanwhile, the latter has been handled by publishing giant Electronic Arts for more than 30 years.

But it’s no surprise that Delphi is looking for more IP to bring to the gaming world.

“We have an active and growing pipeline across two major verticals,” Daugaard explains. “Delphi Titan focuses on iconic fictional franchises such as James Bond and Delphi Sports, including FIFA.

“While we are intentionally selective, we are excited to see what comes next and look forward to sharing more when the time is right.”

Delphi Interactive has managed to keep a low profile so far, but CEO Daugaard says all that will change in the coming months.

“2026 will be a big milestone for Delphi, with our first two games being released that year,” he says.

“Our ambition is simple: to show players what’s possible when building AAA games outside of legacy systems. If we do it right, we can continue to expand Delphi’s mission to make licensed AAA games faster, better and more creatively ambitious than the industry expects.”