The news that a new FIFA game was coming to Netflix in 2026 was a partnership between two massive household names.
Less well-known is Delphi Interactive, the company listed as having “developed and published” the aforementioned sports project.
Save for one interview on Variety around the firm’s otherwise little-discussed involvement in IO’s signing of the James Bond licence, there was precious little information out there. Its presence on LinkedIn (never a perfect source of information, but often indicative of a company’s situation) suggested that the firm didn’t employ any developers. We ventured to find out more.
Formed in 2020, Delphi is an LA-based games firm that, as CEO and founder Casper Daugaard tells GamesIndustry.biz via email, “licenses, finances, develops and publishes games built around the world’s most iconic IP”.
“But we do it outside the traditional publisher model, which we lovingly refer to as the ‘publisher industrial complex’,” he says.
Daugaard believes the publishing industry has become “rather slow, risk-averse” and “heavily concentrated” around a few companies and their own IP. Delphi’s aim, he says, is to bring existing properties into the world of video games. This started with the James Bond franchise, which has been absent from the space since Activision’s exclusive run with the IP from 2007 until 2012’s 007 Legends. The Call of Duty giant had paid a reported $70 million for the rights.
“Delphi’s mission is to be the fastest, boldest, and most creatively aligned games partner for the world’s most iconic brands,” he says.
Partner and executive producer Theodor Tang-Peronard says that there is a “growing structural misalignment” between publishers and IP holders. The problem facing the licensed games space, as he and Delphi see it, is that IP holders are finding it difficult to meet companies that will “truly prioritise them”, due to many big publishers being focused on their own properties.
“At the same time, licensors are far more sophisticated about games than they were a decade ago – they understand the medium, the economics, and the long-term value,” says Tang-Peronard.
As for how these partnerships come about, Daugaard says it’s about imagination.
“We don’t start with a pitch deck – we start with a question: what is the game we wish already existed?” he explains.
“That’s how 007 First Light came about. We loved what Rocksteady did with Batman: Arkham and what Insomniac did with Spider-Man, and we couldn’t understand why no one had done something similar for James Bond. So we went back to first principles and decided to build it ourselves, with the right partners.”
Until recently, Delphi’s involvement in IO Interactive’s James Bond project had been rather quiet. But the company says that it has been very much involved from the very beginning, even before the Hitman studio was brought on board. The developer teased the game – then named Project 007 – in November 2020; it is set to launch in May after a delay.
“For that project, Delphi originated the concept, secured the license from MGM/Danjaq, engaged IO Interactive as developer and publisher, and financed the vertical slice,” Tang-Peronard says.
“Based on what we learned from 007, we decided to build more internal development and publishing capabilities at Delphi as we embark on new projects, such as FIFA.”
“IO was a natural partner – they’re a world-class developer and a proven publisher with the infrastructure to deliver a game of that scale. Based on what we learned from 007, we decided to build more internal development and publishing capabilities at Delphi as we embark on new projects, such as FIFA.”
For the latter project, “Delphi has evolved into a full-fledged developer and publisher,” Tang-Peronard says. “We believe in a lean, highly experienced core team, supported by best-in-class co-development and outsourcing partners.” For FIFA, that includes Refactor Games, based at Delphi’s LA headquarters, part-owned by Delphi and backed by venture capital giant A16z’s Speedrun fund. Founded in 2021, it launched physics-heavy American football title Football Simulator into Early Access in 2022. The studio employs alumni of VR dev Survios and blockchain dev N3TWORK.
“Delphi leads creative direction, production, technology, and publishing, while leveraging partners that accelerate quality and speed,” Tang-Peronard explains.
Delphi’s own development talent has been bolstered recently by the addition of chief technology officer Julien Merceron, a 30-year-plus veteran of the games industry who has worked at giants Ubisoft, Eidos (as worldwide CTO), Square Enix, Konami (where he oversaw development of Fox Engine) and Bandai Namco.
Delphi already has two massive IPs under its belt in James Bond and FIFA, both of which have the potential to be extremely lucrative but require the company to clear some big hurdles. The former was long owned by the Broccoli family, who were notoriously protective of the franchise but recently ceded it to global behemoth Amazon. Meanwhile, the latter was handled by publishing giant Electronic Arts for over 30 years.
But it should come as no surprise that Delphi is looking for more IP to bring to the world of games.
“We have an active and growing pipeline across two core verticals,” Daugaard explains. “Delphi Titan, focused on iconic fictional franchises like James Bond, and Delphi Sports, which includes FIFA.
“We’re deliberately selective, but we’re excited about what’s coming and look forward to sharing more when the time is right.”
Delphi Interactive has managed to keep a low profile so far, but that will all change in the coming months, CEO Daugaard says.
“2026 will be a major milestone for Delphi, with our first two games releasing that year,” he says.
“Our ambition is simple: to show players what’s possible when you build AAA games outside the legacy system. If we do that right, we can continue scaling Delphi’s mission – making licensed AAA games faster, better, and more creatively ambitious than what the industry has come to expect.”
