- Sony has scrapped the live-service shooter Fairgames three years after it was announced.
- The game saw mixed player retention and feedback during large-scale internal playtests.
- Executives recognized challenging market conditions for live-service shooters, which drove this decision.
PlayStation’s live-service ambitions have failed to materialize after gobbling millions of dollars via multiple botched games like Concord and Destruction Allstars. Bungie alone was reportedly developing half a dozen live-service titles after the buyout, but most of them were scrapped.
In short, the company has almost nothing to show for the initiative besides Helldivers 2. Haven Studios’ PvP live-service Fairgames was expected to be PlayStation’s saving grace, but a new report reveals it has also been scrapped three years after being announced.
Why it matters: Sony’s Fairgames was expected to be its next big live-service initiative after almost all the past attempts either got scrapped, taken down, or produced lukewarm results. However, this shooter wasn’t shaping up to meet internal expectations either.
Bloomberg reports that a recent playtest featuring thousands of players failed to impress the expectations of PlayStation executives. An internal memo mentions the test showed ‘strong operational excellence, live ops readiness, and community engagement,’ but player reception was a mixed bag.
player feedback and retention results were mixed and fell short of the goals we had set.
-Executives, Sean Decker and John Doyle.
Fairgames’ core gameplay has allegedly been reworked a few times since development began 3 to 4 years ago, but multiple playtests appeared to have received negative reception.
Sony also implies that challenging market conditions for live-service PvP games at the moment would have likely led to another huge flop like Concord, which led to the development of Fairgames being scrapped.
Combined with challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre, we have made the difficult decision to cease development on the game.
The report also mentions that Haven Studios have not received any layoffs so far, as their focus would pivot to collaborating with other development studios and ‘new creative opportunities.’
Sony has only launched 4 new franchises in the PS5 generation so far. Fairgames was expected to be the fifth one before Intergalactic’s release, possibly next year.
Do you think Sony should have worked more on the game and launched it instead of cancelling it during playtesting? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devotedly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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