Sony Reportedly Cancels Live Service Shooter Fairgames After 'Mixed' Playtest

Sony has reportedly cancelled Fairgames, the live service shooter title that was in development at Montreal-based Haven Studios. The PlayStation parent has confirmed that the studio, which was acquired by the company in 2022, will continue to support other PlayStation projects and will not be affected by layoffs following the cancellation.

Fairgames was announced in 2023 as part of Sony's push to produce more live service titles across its portfolio. The new IP was billed as a competitive multiplayer shooter in development for PC and PS5. Since that time, however, Sony has cut back on its live service projects and cancelled several multiplayer games.

Fairgames joins PlayStation projects like The Last of Us online, an unannounced God of War live service title, and a live service title from Bend Studio, among others, that have been cancelled while in development.

The cancellation of Haven Studios' multiplayer shooter was reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday. The developer will not be hit with layoffs, a PlayStation spokesperson told the publication.

“The studio will shift its focus to collaborating with other development teams across PlayStation Studios, while also exploring new creative opportunities,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Fairgames Playtest Didn't Meet Expectations

According to the report, a recent Fairgames playtest with thousands of players fell short of Sony's expectations. Player feedback from the test was “mixed”, company executives reportedly told employees in an internal email.

“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,” Sean Decker and John Doyle, who serve as head of live services and head of production at PlayStation Studios, respectively, told employees, as per Bloomberg. “Combined with challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre, we have made the difficult decision to cease development on the game.”

Fairgames was described as a competitive heist game where players would join an underground movement to rob billionaires. Haven Studios said the game would be a PvP title with emergent sandbox gameplay. Fairgames was reportedly reworked multiple times since it was announced and was set to be revealed with a new title.

In recent years, Sony has cancelled multiple live service projects as multiplayer releases have yielded mixed results. While Helldivers 2, which was released in 2024, was a major commercial hit, Concord, a PvP shooter from Firewalk Studios, failed to attract players when it launched later that year. The game was taken offline and the studio was shut down just weeks after release.

Earlier this year, Bungie's Marathon, a PvPvE extraction shooter, was released to critical acclaim, but the game has since struggled to attract a sizable player base. Bungie has announced plans to rework the shooter and evolve it beyond the constraints of its genre.