PlayStation cancels live-service shooter Fairgames at Haven Studios

PlayStation has cancelled Fairgames, the live-service shooter in development at Haven Studios in Montreal. GamesIndustry.biz reports that PlayStation gave Bloomberg a statement saying the studio 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 told employees that a recent Fairgames playtest did not meet expectations. The email said the test showed strong operational excellence, live ops readiness and community engagement. Player feedback and retention results were mixed and below the goals the team had set. Together with challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre, that led to the decision to stop development.

Haven Studios' debut game was announced in 2023. It was first scheduled for release last year, then delayed to Spring 2026. Jade Raymond founded the studio in 2021 and PlayStation Studios acquired it in 2022. After Raymond left in May 2025, executive producer Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski were appointed co-studio heads.

GamesIndustry.biz places the cancellation in the context of PlayStation's live-service push, which began in 2022 with the $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie. Former Sony Interactive Entertainment head Jim Ryan said the company aimed to launch more than ten live-service games by 2026. Sony cut the value of that 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.

Other setbacks listed in the report: Concord was withdrawn from sale two weeks after its 2024 release, and Sony then closed Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi.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 has previously said he wants to revitalise live-service projects through a mix of first- and third-party content. He also said Sony is considering what it can do with older titles in the medium to long term.