adminThe Delphi Interactive fan-first strategy is attracting interest from major entertainment and sports brands. CEO Casper Daugaard says the company’s approach is to build interactive experiences for people who love an IP, not only for players who already identify as gamers. The idea has shaped its work on 007 First Light and FIFA projects, and could help connect well-known properties with broader audiences.
Image credit: IO Interactive
How the Delphi Interactive fan-first strategy works
At a panel at The Paley Center for Media, Daugaard described conversations with several globally recognised brands interested in Delphi’s model. Rather than starting with the expectations of a narrow gaming audience, the company considers what fans value about a property and how those elements might translate into an interactive format.
For 007 First Light, Delphi secured the James Bond licence and partnered with IO Interactive on development. Daugaard said the goal was to reflect the wider appeal of the franchise through features such as driving, social stealth, flirting and the MI6 programme. The aim, in his account, was to make the experience feel recognisably Bond while using the interactive medium to bring its world to life.
Practical takeaway: When adapting a familiar franchise, developers can use its defining themes and experiences as a guide. That can help an adaptation feel relevant to existing fans without assuming that every audience member has the same gaming background.
FIFA and the wider audience opportunity
Delphi applied a similar principle to FIFA in a project with Netflix. Daugaard said the team wanted to create an accessible, more casual experience that could appeal to football fans beyond people who had played earlier FIFA titles from EA. Netflix saw potential in the concept, even though the project had a limited delivery window.
Refactor Games developed FIFA, while Delphi published it. It was the first release in the FIFA series after the organisation’s split from EA Sports in 2022, and it launched two weeks before FIFA Heroes. The project illustrates how a well-known sports property can be approached for a broad audience, while retaining the sport’s central appeal.
Why major IP owners may be interested
Daugaard has described Delphi’s role as licensing, financing, developing and publishing games based on major intellectual property. Delphi president Andy Kleinman has also pointed to a gap between some large publishers and entertainment or sports brands. If a brand’s existing partners are not prioritising a particular project, a specialist partner may see an opportunity to build it.
For readers assessing a franchise-based game, useful questions include whether the experience reflects what fans value, whether newcomers can understand it, and whether its format suits the property. Those considerations apply whether the source material is a film series, a sport or another established brand.
What Delphi’s approach could mean for future games
The Delphi Interactive fan-first strategy puts audience familiarity at the centre of adaptation. Interest from major IP owners does not guarantee that every project will succeed, but the model offers a clear framework: understand the source property, identify what its fans care about, and design an interactive experience that can welcome a wider audience. Delphi’s work on James Bond and FIFA shows how that principle is being applied across entertainment and sport.
