PlayStation has cancelled Fairgames, the live-service shooter previously in development at its Montreal-based subsidiary Haven Studios.
In a statement to Bloomberg, PlayStation said Haven Studios will “shift focus to collaborating with other development teams across PlayStation Studios, while also exploring new creative opportunities.” No jobs have been cut due to the cancellation.
According to an email reviewed by Bloomberg, executives Sean Decker and John Doyle informed employees that a recent Fairgames playtest did not meet expectations.
“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,” they said.
“Combined with challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre, we have made the difficult decision to cease development on the game.”
Haven Studios’ debut game was announced in 2023, initially scheduled for release last year, and later delayed to Spring 2026.
Jade Raymond founded Haven Studios in 2021, and PlayStation Studios acquired the studio in 2022.
Following Raymond’s departure in May 2025, executive producer Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski were appointed co-studio heads.
PlayStation started focusing on the live-service market in 2022 by acquiring Bungie for $3.6 billion. Former Sony Interactive Entertainment head Jim Ryan said the company aimed to launch more than ten live-service games by 2026.
Sony reduced the value of its acquisition by $765 million in the 2025/26 fiscal year after Destiny 2 and Marathon underperformed.
Earlier this year, Bungie laid off 292 employees and ended development on Destiny 2. Following the game’s final update, Bungie announced plans to reinstate vaulted campaigns, raids, and destinations to restore player trust.
One of Sony’s most publicised live-service failures was Concord in 2024, which was withdrawn from sale two weeks after release. Sony subsequently closed its developer Firewalk Studios, along with Neon Koi. Koi.
In 2025, Sony cancelled two unannounced live service titles from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The following year, Sony closed Bluepoint, resulting in 70 job losses.
Sony Interactive CEO Hideaki Nishino previously said he wanted to “revitalise” live-service projects through a combination of first- and third-party content following its string of failures.
“We believe that live service games are content that attracts users on a global level, so we want to continue to revitalise the market through both first-party and third-party content,” Nishino said.
“We are not only focusing on promoting new releases, but also considering what we can do with older titles in the medium to long term.”
He continued: “With live service games, it’s important to continuously provide something. The genre itself is relatively new, and I think many people are trying various things, so we also want to continue to take on challenges within that context.”