Sony’s upcoming PS5 and PC live-service recreation Fairgame$ has misplaced one other high developer. Game director Daniel Drapeau has left developer Haven Studios to hitch WB Video games Montreal.
Haven founder Jade Raymond left the corporate in Could. It was reported on the time that Fairgame$ was delayed to 2026 after a playtest proved unfavorable.
Drapeau left Haven weeks in the past, and mentioned in a LinkedIn post that they are becoming a member of WB Video games Montreal as a artistic director for an upcoming venture. “Let’s do that!” Drapeau mentioned.
Drapeau is a online game business veteran, having began again in 2006 in testing and internship positions with VMC and Odd1 earlier than becoming a member of Ubisoft in 2007 as a recreation designer. Drapeau was later promoted to guide recreation designer on Rainbow Six Siege earlier than leaving to hitch Eidos-Montreal in 2017 to work on Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Drapeau re-joined Ubisoft in 2019 and labored on the firm for 2 years earlier than shifting to Haven in 2021.
There isn’t any phrase but on what Drapeau is engaged on at WB Video games Montreal, however the studio was mentioned to have been pitching a brand new Game of Thrones recreation earlier this 12 months. The studio assisted Rocksteady with 2024’s underperforming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and in addition made 2022’s Gotham Knights.
As for Haven and Fairgame$, the sport is now reportedly coming in Spring 2026, placing it within the neighborhood of GTA 6 in Could 2026.
What’s Fairgame$ all about?
As you may see within the announcement trailer, Fairgame$ has gamers going after billionaires who’ve “an excessive amount of cash and an excessive amount of energy.” Within the trailer, we see a squad of gamers infiltrating some type of compound, working collectively to take down safety guards with the obvious intention of sticking it to the person.
“Fairgame$ offers you a possibility to interrupt the foundations as a modern-day Robin Hood, a thrill seeker, or simply somebody who needs to gather cool loot,” artistic director Mathieu Leduc mentioned. “Trespass inside forbidden areas world wide, fill your pockets like a child in a sweet retailer and unravel the nefarious plans of untouchable billionaires.”
Bother with Sony’s live-service push
Again when Fairgame$ was introduced in 2023, Sony was within the midst of an enormous push and funding into the live-service market. At one time limit, Sony needed to launch 12 live-service video games over the approaching years (alongside its dedication to single-player video games). Nevertheless, in Could 2023, Sony introduced that it was halving its deliberate live-service recreation output, with administration stressing it needed to concentrate on high quality over amount. After this announcement, Naughty Canine’s The Final of Us multiplayer recreation was canceled in December 2023.
At first of 2024, although, Sony discovered its largest success thus far within the live-service market with Helldivers 2–the recreation went on to smash gross sales information and grow to be the No. 3 general best-selling recreation of 2024 within the US. It not too long ago got here to Xbox, and, together with a brand new replace, has seen an enormous surge in recognition.
In August 2024, Sony launched the multiplayer recreation Harmony. It had such a dismal efficiency out of the gate that Sony shortly took the sport offline and refunded all gamers. Its developer, Firewalk, was later closed. On the finish of 2024, Sony confirmed that it canceled a number of initiatives, together with a live-service God of Conflict and one other live-service title from Bend.
It was reported in 2023 that PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who left Sony in 2024, had a mandate that Sony’s groups ought to make extra games-as-a-service titles. Plenty of PlayStation builders have been reportedly upset with this, and the blame was mentioned to have fallen not on Ryan however Connie Sales space, one of the vital essential and veteran PlayStation builders, resulting in her eventual departure.
Another former PlayStation boss, Shuhei Yoshida, not too long ago mentioned the possibility of discovering success within the aggressive live-service market was “small,” however his alternative, Hermen Hulst, was given the assets to fund each single-player video games and live-service titles on the identical time. Nevertheless, had Yoshida stayed in that function, he mentioned he would have “tried to resist” the push into the live-service market. He joked, “That is one of many causes they eliminated me.”
Along with Fairgame$, Sony is engaged on a number of different live-service video games, together with Bungie’s Marathon–which is dealing with its personal set of challenges and has been delayed indefinitely. Another recreation, codenamed Gummy Bears, which spun out from Bungie at SIE, recently crossed a milestone.
Following the failure of Harmony, high boss Hermen Hulst mentioned Sony put new constructions in place to assist guarantee its live-service video games come to market in higher form.
For extra on Sony’s live-service video games, take a look at the gallery beneath to get the newest on the standing of all of the initiatives within the works.