PlayStation's next live-service project is history: Sony has canceled Fairgame$, the PvP heist shooter from Haven Studios. This was reported by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, and a PlayStation spokesperson confirmed the cancellation. The good news amidst the bad: there will reportedly be no layoffs this time.
Why was Fairgame$ canceled?
The decision was apparently prompted by a large playtest involving thousands of players. In an internal email to Haven staff, PlayStation managers Sean Decker and John Doyle reportedly stated that while technology, live-ops readiness, and community engagement were convincing, player feedback and retention were mixed and missed the set targets. Combined with the challenging market for PvP shooters, the decision was made to end development.
This isn't entirely surprising. Fairgame$ was unveiled in May 2023 at the PlayStation Showcase and then virtually never shown again. In 2025, studio founder Jade Raymond left Haven – according to PC Gamer, after an external playtest that had concerned PlayStation leadership. According to Destructoid, the game was most recently even planned to be redeveloped away from the heist concept towards an extraction shooter à la Marathon.
As a reminder, here's what the reveal trailer looked like back then:
What happens to Haven Studios now?
The studio will remain operational. According to the PlayStation spokesperson, Haven will collaborate with other development teams within PlayStation Studios in the future while also exploring “new creative opportunities.” A new proprietary project has not been announced – but neither has a complete shutdown.
The backstory is extensive: Raymond, co-creator of Assassin’s Creed, founded Haven in Montreal in March 2021 with an investment from Sony. A year later, Sony Interactive Entertainment fully acquired the studio – at the time, it was the first PlayStation development studio in Canada, with a “new AAA multiplayer game” as its first project. That very game is now history.
Sony's live-service track record grows bleaker
Fairgame$ joins a long list. Former PlayStation head Jim Ryan spoke in 2022 of twelve live-service games by 2025. According to PC Gamer, seven of these were canceled before release, including the multiplayer project for The Last of Us, a Spider-Man multiplayer from Insomniac, and a Twisted Metal battle royale. Concord went offline in less than two weeks, and Marathon is falling short of expectations. The major outlier on the upside: Helldivers 2.
Our assessment: That Sony is pulling the plug this time without immediately letting staff go is noteworthy – especially in an industry where cancellations have almost always been accompanied by job losses recently, as seen with the layoffs in Skydance's games division or the studio closure at BioWare. Strategically, however, the case primarily shows one thing: a PvP shooter without a clear hook has little chance against established leaders in 2026 – and Sony now seems to prefer realizing this before launch rather than after a second Concord.
Source: PC Gamer, Destructoid, Bloomberg, Sony Interactive Entertainment (Press Release 2022)
Right decision or wasted potential: Would you have given Fairgame$ a chance after the reveal trailer?
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