"Watch Soccer, Play Games"... Netflix and Nexon Anticipate World Cup Boom

Netflix to Launch FIFA Cloud Game on World Cup Opening Day
Nexon Rolls Out Monthly Updates for "FC Online"... EA Joins the Race
"Changing Ways of Consuming Sports... Mobile and Digital Preferred"

With only three days left until the opening of the 2026 FIFA North, Central America, and Caribbean World Cup, the content industry is actively moving to capitalize on World Cup-driven demand. There is growing anticipation that the real-world sports tournament will attract users to related game titles.

Image related to Netflix game 'FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition.' Screenshot from Netflix Newsroom video

Netflix will launch the soccer simulation game "FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition" on June 11 (local time), coinciding with the opening day of the World Cup. This is a cloud-based game that can be played on a living room TV or PC, with a smartphone used as a controller. All paid subscribers can enjoy the game without any in-app purchases or advertisements.

Netflix, which is currently transforming itself into a "comprehensive entertainment platform," has partnered with FIFA to release a soccer game during the World Cup season as a strategy to lock in subscribers. Greg Peters, Co-CEO of Netflix, stated during the third-quarter earnings announcement last year that "our gaming service is generating synergy with original content by increasing subscriber engagement and reducing churn."

Nexon is also working to boost user engagement with long-term updates for "FC Online." Updates will be rolled out sequentially through next month, improving user convenience by enabling batch release of unregistered players and deletion of up to 150 types of items at once, and expanding the "Squad Maker" function that allows users to pre-build teams.

A Nexon representative explained, "The results of real-world tournaments are reflected in the game, for example by boosting player stats, to enhance fun and immersion. User inflow increases not only during the World Cup, but also whenever major matches such as the UEFA Champions League final take place."

Over the past two years, when there were no large-scale soccer events, Nexon held the "Icon Match" to expand offline touchpoints with users and drive game traffic. The results were evident in the data. According to the PC gaming statistics service GameTrics, during the "Icon Match" event in July last year, playtime for "FC Online" rose by 36.97% compared to the previous week. On the first day of the Icon Match event (September 13), the daily PC café market share for "FC Online" climbed to 12.66%, making it the second most popular title.

There are several factors driving the influx of game users during real-world tournaments, including the desire to recreate the performances of favorite players within the game and the changing ways in which people consume sports. The sports gaming company EA has officially commented that, for 1 to 2 hours after the end of a major real-world soccer match, the number of matches played in-game between the corresponding two teams surges by several hundred percent compared to normal. Now operating independently from the FIFA brand, EA is working to retain users by introducing the "The World's Game" international tournament mode in this month's "EA Sports FC 26" update.

Altman Solon, a global strategy consulting firm, analyzed in a report published in February that "as sports fans increasingly prefer digital environments, their willingness to spend on sports IP (such as uniforms and player characters) in virtual spaces and games is growing, and mobile sports games are the most preferred channel."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.