Sony has canceled Fairgames (aka Fairgame$) three years after the live-service shooter was announced, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. No one at its developer, Haven Studios, is getting laid off, and instead Haven will support other Sony Interactive Entertainment-owned studios, according to that report.
Farigames recently held a playtest and, according to an internal email reviewed by Bloomberg, feedback from that playtest didn’t live up to PlayStation’s expectations. “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,” executives Sean Decker and John Doyle said in the email. With “challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre,” Sony decided to cancel the game.
Fairgames reportedly had been reworked multiple times since its 2023 reveal. It would have been the debut game from Haven, 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. Haven was acquired by Sony in 2022.
Fairgames is Sony’s latest live-service misfire
Back in 2022, Sony announced a huge push for live-service games, aiming to release at least 10 by 2026. While games like Helldivers 2 and Gran Turismo 7 have been steady live-service hits, Sony’s push has largely failed. Concord is the most notable misfire, as it was actually released before Sony reversed course and shut it down shortly after launch in embarrassing fashion.
A live-service God of War game, a multiplayer The Last of Us game, and many others were canceled before they could see the light of day. PlayStation studios working on live-service games, including London Studios, Firewalk Studios, and Bluepoint Games, were all shut down in recent years. In June, Sony laid off most of the Destiny team at Bungie, as “Destiny 2 fell short of expectations” with players. Recently, Horizon Hunters Gathering was reportedly delayed so it can be rebooted in response to negative player feedback (which sounds not too dissimilar to the Fairgames situation).
And now, Fairgames has been canceled.