Another Sony live service shooter may be in trouble as Jade Raymond exits the studio making PvP heist sandbox Fairgames

Sony-owned developer Haven Studios had planned to release its live service shooter Fairgames this year, but the departure of its founder, Jade Raymond, and poorly-received external playtests has resulted in a delay to 2025, according to a Bloomberg report.

Raymond started Haven in 2021 just two months after leaving Stadia Games, Google's relatively short-lived internal development studio. Its debut game, Fairgames, was announced in 2023. The shooter was pitched as a "modern take on the heist genre," and a PvP sandbox with what sounds like extraction shooter loot hoarding.

According to Haven developers Bloomberg spoke to, PlayStation leadership didn't tell Haven staff why Raymond left, and that it happened "several weeks after an external test" of the game. They also said they were "concerned about how the game was received and its progress" following the playtest.

In a statement to Bloomberg, a PlayStation spokesperson said it's "deeply grateful for [Raymond's] leadership and contributions," and that it remains "committed to supporting Haven Studios and [is] excited to continue the journey" with new co-studio heads Marie-Even Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski.

It seems fair to say that, Helldivers 2 aside, Sony has been struggling to break into the live service arena. The company reportedly cancelled two unannounced live service games in January, one from Days Gone developer Bend Studio and one from Demon's Souls remake developer Bluepoint Games. And it was just late last year that Sony pulled the plug on Concord two weeks after it was released.

Bungie's sci-fi extraction shooter Marathon is due out in September, but despite Bungie's long experience with live service games, it doesn't feel like a guaranteed hit . And it's already been the subject of controversy after it was discovered that some of its art assets were stolen.

Despite all of this, Sony still seems interested in live service games and opened up a whole new studio in Bellevue, WA called TeamLFG. Let's hope that developer's game sees the light of day.