One of PlayStation’s upcoming multiplayer live service games sounds like it’s in trouble.
Canadian video game producer Jade Raymond has left Montreal-based Haven Studios, the team behind the upcoming competitive heist shooter Fairgame$. Bloomberg first reported on the news with confirmation from Haven parent company PlayStation. The game was revealed two years ago but we haven’t seen anything from it since.
While PlayStation didn’t provide a reason for Raymond’s departure, Bloomberg noted that it comes weeks after an external test for Fairgame$. Per the publication, some developers at Haven are “concerned” about the reception of that test, as well as how the game has been progressing. They added that the game, which was never publicly given a release window, had been targeting a fall 2025 launch but has been delayed to next spring.
Fairgame$ has been a particularly notable part of PlayStation’s portfolio because Haven is the company’s sole Canadian studio, which it acquired in 2022. Raymond herself is also a major player in the gaming industry, having helped create Ubisoft’s massive Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs series and founding Ubisoft Toronto (Far Cry 6) and EA Motive (Dead Space).
Raymond would later lead Stadia’s first-party games division, but Google quickly shuttered it, and she departed the company. That eventually led to her founding Haven with several of her old colleagues. It’s unclear where Raymond may go next.
Fairgame$ is also significant because it’s seemingly one of the last games in PlayStation’s struggling multiplayer game business. In 2022, the company said its then-recent acquisition of Destiny maker Bungie would help it ship more than 10 live service games by 2026. However, outside of last year’s highly successful Helldivers 2, PlayStation’s multiplayer efforts have failed to take off.
For instance, its long-gestating The Last of Us multiplayer title was cancelled in 2023, and in the following year, PlayStation closed its London studio (which had been working on an online co-op game) and cancelled developer Firesprite’s Twisted Metal multiplayer game. Deviation Games, a third-party team made up of Call of Duty veterans, was also working on a PlayStation multiplayer game before it shuttered in 2024. Insomniac Games seemingly cancelled a leaked Spider-Man multiplayer experience, while two more unannounced PlayStation live service titles, including one based on God of War, were reportedly canned earlier this year.
But the biggest blunder came with Concord, an Overwatch-style hero shooter from Firewalk Studios, a team led by former Destiny developers. The game launched last year to mixed reviews and low player counts, resulting in it being delisted just two weeks later, and Firewalk soon being shuttered.
Clearly, then, PlayStation — like many other companies — has been having all kinds of problems with its live service business, and that unfortunately doesn’t instill confidence that Fairgame$ will fare much better, especially given this new report. It remains to be seen what will come out of the game.
For now, the company has two highly-anticipated single-player games on the way this year: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (June 26) and Ghost of Yōtei (October 2). Bungie will also release its next multiplayer game, Marathon, on September 23.
Image credit: PlayStation
Source: Bloomberg
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