Refactor Games Lost Most of Its Staff Weeks After Shipping FIFA World Cup
Multiple reports called Refactor Games shut down this week, but the studio's own CEO says around 80 people were laid off and the company plans to regroup.
What's Actually Confirmed
On Friday, July 31, Refactor Games laid off around 80 people, the majority of its staff, according to CEO Nathan Burba. Delphi Interactive, which part-owns the studio, pulled funding immediately after the game's launch, and no severance was offered as a result. Staff found out during a general meeting that day, and Friday's regular payday doubled as their final paycheck.
Not Quite a Shutdown
Multiple early reports, built on former employees' own LinkedIn posts, described Refactor Games as shuttered outright. Burba tells a narrower story: the studio is regrouping, and he hopes to bring some of the laid-off staff back for other projects. What those other projects are, and what's left standing at Refactor to run them, wasn't mentioned to the staff who lost their jobs that day.
A Rough Two Months
FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition released on Netflix on June 11, timed to the opening day of the World Cup tournament. Reviews were harsh, criticizing both the graphics and the gameplay itself. In July, Delphi CEO Casper Daugaard said the game was "doing extremely well," and Netflix's own earnings call named it one of the platform's two most successful cloud game debuts. Weeks later, most of the team that built it was gone.
Why Refactor and Delphi Exist Like This
Refactor Games and Delphi Interactive only share this project because of a fight that predates it by years. FIFA's naming-rights fee, historically around $150 million a year under EA, jumped to a demand of $1 billion for each four-year World Cup cycle, and EA declined to pay it. The 2022 split turned FIFA into a free agent looking for new gaming partners under its own name again. Delphi, a lean licensing and co-development studio founded in 2020, confirmed its part ownership of Refactor earlier this year. Refactor itself is also backed by Andreessen Horowitz, and pulled in staff with backgrounds at EA Sports, 2K Sports, and OneTeam Partners to actually build the game. FIFA wasn't Delphi's only swing this year either. The company's other flagship release, 007 First Light with IO Interactive, shipped in May.
The Same Pattern, Different Studio
Studios have been cut loose right after a successful launch before. Refactor's situation still moves faster than most, with funding pulled and staff let go before the game had even been out two months.
Where It Stands
Burba says he wants to bring some of the laid-off staff back for other projects at the studio. Delphi hasn't responded to requests for comment. Netflix has said the game will be "evolved over time" alongside next year's Women's World Cup, and right now nobody with the funding to do that has said how.
