Fairgame$ may need a fair time in development.
As reported by The Gamer, Jeff Grubb gave this update in response to a viewer question on his Game Mess Decides podcast:
“No Fairgame$ this year. Fairgame$, as far as I’m aware, has been pushed to 2026.”
Fairgame$ was originally announced in Sony’s 2023 PlayStation Showcase. This is a co-op heist game, in the same vein as Starbreeze Studios’ Payday franchise. However, there’s a twist: there are different teams trying to do the same heists at the same time, making this a team PvPvE affair.
This will be the first game to come from Haven Studios, itself a team comprised of developers who were originally working for Google to make an original title for the Stadia.
Google were magnanimous enough to allow their star game designer employee Jade Raymond to pitch their dev team and project to other potential buyers, allowing Haven to be formally acquired and set up by PlayStation.
In September of last year, we reported on a rumor that there was ‘positive’ internal chatter in Sony about Fairgame$, but we think you’ll agree that that was hardly enough information to assess where the project was at the time.
The elephant in the room surrounding Fairgame$ is that it is one of several live service titles Sony has in development. As Sony may have found out a little too late, a lot of the money in gaming is funneling into live service games, with a disproportionate share going into Fortnite and PUBG.
Sony may not necessarily think they can make the next Fortnite, but even a modest live service success will be helpful to the company’s portfolio. They got that one success with Helldivers 2, though that is through a 3rd party studio.
More grimly, of course, was the fate of Concord, which we won’t elaborate on here. But arguably a worse fate than being Concord, is to be one of the several live service titles that Sony decided to cancel.
Many fans and games press are skeptical about Fairgame$ because of Concord, but Haven also has another challenge facing them in the flank. Payday 3’s disastrous release may not necessarily mean that there is no more appetite for co-op heist shooters. However, the mistakes Starbreeze Studios made with that release may have salted the Earth for the genre.
It’s not so much that players won’t give heist shooters another chance. But if we accept that Payday was something of a niche in the shooter genre as it was, and that Starbreeze was already failing to challenge the dominance of Fortnite and other live service games, it just doesn’t bode well for Fairgame$’ chances.
In this situation, perception is everything, and as much as there were fans who were criticizing Fairgame$’ announcement, Sony at least recognized that they don’t want to end up with another Concord. So, hopefully the current management has put the right things in place to make the game more appealing to fans on the surface, and also find a way to make it competitive in that crowded market.
All things considered, this may end up being the best thing Sony does to Haven Studios and Fairgame$. But we’re just going to have to wait and see how it all plays out.
