Sony has cancelled Fairgame$, Haven Studios’ live service heist shooter, more than three years after it was announced at the 2023 PlayStation Showcase.
Sony is ending development of the PS5 and PC game, according to a Bloomberg report relayed on November 10. In a note to Haven developers that Bloomberg reviewed, PlayStation executives Sean Decker and John Doyle said a recent test left them unconvinced the game could hold a player base.
Mixed feedback and a crowded genre
“While the test demonstrated strong operational excellence, live ops readiness and community engagement, player feedback and retention results were mixed and fell short of the goals we had set,” the note said. “Combined with challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre, we have made the difficult decision to cease development on the game.”
The wording puts the blame squarely on retention, the metric that decides whether a live service game can sustain itself, and on the state of the PvP shooter market, where Sony’s own Marathon has reportedly struggled to build an audience since its March 5, 2026 launch on Steam at €39.99.
Haven survives as a support studio
There will be no layoffs, a PlayStation spokesperson told Bloomberg. Sony said in a statement that “the studio will shift its focus to collaborating with other development teams across PlayStation Studios, while also exploring new creative opportunities.” Sony did not name the teams Haven will work with.
It is a quiet end for a project that never showed its hand. Fairgame$ was announced in 2023 with a single CGI trailer and was billed as a competitive multiplayer heist shooter; actual gameplay was never formally revealed. Bloomberg reported the game had been reworked several times and was set to be re-revealed under a new name. Studio founder Jade Raymond left in May 2025, and game director Daniel Drapeau departed several months later.
The cancellation is the latest stumble in Sony’s live service push, which in 2022 was meant to deliver 10 such games by 2026. That plan has since been undercut by underperformers and cancellations. Sony has not said whether Haven will keep working on any project of its own.
