A 40-year tradition ends as World Cup ‘26 starts. ⚽🚫🎮
Since 1986, every FIFA World Cup has had its official video game, which allowed players to lead their favorite national teams to glory. 🏆 This tradition is broken with the FIFA World Cup 26.
It all started with World Cup Carnival by U.S. Gold, released for the tournament in Mexico in 1986. Four years later, Virgin Mastertronic released World Cup Soccer: Italia '90, and in 1994, U.S. Gold returned with World Cup USA '94.
In 1998, the reign of EA Sports began. Players could experience the tournament in France 🐓 in two games. FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 included the qualifiers and the main tournament, while World Cup 98 recreated the World Cup, featuring authentic national kits and all the stadiums for the first time.
Since then, EA Sports has released FIFA World Cup video games every four years. However, at some point, the company changed its strategy, so tournaments in Russia and Qatar were released as free DLCs for FIFA 18 and FIFA 23, respectively, instead of standalone games.
After the breakup between FIFA and Electronic Arts, the federation hasn’t found another developer to create an official AAA game. Instead, 📱 FIFA Heroes, an arcade-style mobile title, will be released later this month, and some other titles, including Rocket League, Football Manager, and Roblox’s FIFA Super Soccer, will get some FIFA World Cup content.
Unfortunately, it’s not exactly what football fans worldwide hoped for.