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In 2023, Sony announced Fairgames as part of its drive to release live-service games.
The decision followed a test involving thousands of players that failed to meet the company’s expectations, according to a Bloomberg report. “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,” Sony executives Sean Decker and John Doyle wrote in an email to employees that Bloomberg reviewed. However, PlayStation said the cancellation would not result in job cuts. Sony had said it planned to release more than a dozen such games.
Sony has cancelled Fairgames, three years after announcing the shooter. The online game was being developed at its Montreal subsidiary, Haven Studios, as part of PlayStation’s push into live-service titles. Haven will instead work with other PlayStation development teams while considering new projects. These games are built to keep players engaged after launch and generate revenue from in-game purchases. However, the initiative has faced repeated setbacks, with several projects cancelled. The report also noted that PlayStation has closed multiple studios in recent years, including Bluepoint and Dark Outlaw Games.