EA Won’t Be Releasing An F1 26 Title, Aiming For 2027 Instead

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One of the biggest critiques of annual sports releases is that they often lack worthwhile content.

Honestly, this year’s Madden feels way too much like the last one. It really makes you wonder what we’re actually paying for with a brand new game every year. They could just update the player rosters and sell it as a cheaper update, and I think most of us would be happy with that!

Here’s a quick story: a similar approach was tried before by a game developer. When the NFL wasn’t locked into a deal with just EA Sports, NFL 2K5 came out with a surprisingly low price of $19.99. Interestingly, it wasn’t just as good as that year’s Madden game—which was already a solid title—but many still consider it one of the best NFL games ever made.

The situation sparked a conversation among fans about the value of yearly sports games that often feel unfinished and overpriced. This discussion has expanded to other game series with frequent releases, like Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty. Generally, fans seem to prefer developers take extra time – even a year – to deliver a polished and high-quality game.

The recent news about the future of the EA Sports F1 game is encouraging: they’re planning to skip a full release in 2026, but will return with a completely new game in 2027. They’ll keep supporting the current game with an update in 2026, and the 2027 release promises to be a significant upgrade with a fresh look, feel, and gameplay experience.

Lee Mather, Senior Creative Director at Codemasters (the team behind EA Sports F1 25), confirmed their long-term dedication to the F1 game series. They plan to build on this year’s success with updates for 2026 and a major overhaul of the game in 2027, aiming to improve the experience for all players globally.

This Is A Decision Every Sports Game Should Adopt

EA Sports F1 isn’t alone in needing to improve. The WWE 2K games also hit a rough patch – they skipped a year in 2021 after a poorly received 2020 version, but then made a strong comeback.

WWE 2K25 represents years of consistent progress, and it’s easily one of the best sports games released this year. It was disappointing to see it overlooked at the Game Awards.

Making video games is tough these days, and releasing a new one every year adds even more pressure. I spoke with the team behind the WWE 2K series at the Royal Rumble, and they explained how challenging it is to work with such a tight schedule, especially when the list of wrestlers is constantly changing. While the Formula 1 series doesn’t have that same problem with players changing, it still makes you wonder: would it have been worthwhile to buy the next F1 game, F1 26?

It’s interesting that the 2026 Formula 1 season will look quite different, and hopefully the upcoming update for EA Sports F1 25 will reflect those changes. If these new F1 features work well, I really hope EA Sports considers applying similar improvements to their other sports games.

The new college football game was worth the wait and came out fantastic. Even if future versions aren’t quite as good, it’s still a better experience than many other sports games available. This makes you wonder why EA Sports doesn’t take a similar approach with their major franchises – a year to completely rebuild Madden could really improve the game.

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2025-11-19 00:09