Sony Cancels Fairgame$, Saves Haven Studios Jobs

Sony has canceled the upcoming live-service shooter Fairgame$, but the studio behind it will not face layoffs. A report from Bloomberg says Haven Studios will instead support other PlayStation projects. Reported by GameSpot, IGN and Polygon.

The decision follows a recent playtest where player feedback and retention results fell short of internal goals. Executives Sean Decker and John Doyle wrote in an email reviewed by Bloomberg: "While the test demonstrated strong operational excellence, live ops readiness and community engagement, player feedback and retention results were mixed and fell short of the goals we had set." They also cited challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre.

Fairgame$ was announced in 2023 as the debut game from Haven Studios, which was founded in 2021 by former Assassin's Creed producer and Google Stadia Games and Entertainment head Jade Raymond, who has since left the studio. Sony acquired the Montreal-based studio in 2022. The game was reportedly reworked several times over three years, and the studio was reportedly planning to re-reveal it under a new name.

Concord flopped, The Last of Us Online was scrapped and an online God of War game was killed. Helldivers 2 has been a big win for PlayStation.