Jade Raymond has left Haven Studios.
As reported by Bloomberg, Sony confirmed this news, providing this statement:
Jade Raymond has been an incredible partner and visionary force in founding Haven Studios. We are deeply grateful for her leadership and contributions, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter.
Sony then named the new people who will head Haven, Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski.
Haven Studios was first revealed to the public in 2023, at the same time that their first game was announced, Fairgame$. Fairgame$ is a PvPvE game with a twist; it’s a co-op heist game in the same vein as Payday, and there are multiple teams competing to pull off the same heist against each other.
Unfortunately, Fairgame$’ reveal was not received well by the public, and especially by Sony fans. Aside from Helldivers 2, and if we were honest, Fortnite, Sony fans have been very vocal about their distaste for live service games and have been complaining to Sony about their push to make them. There’s a tinge to irony to this narrative, as Sony clearly decided to go in this direction as their data shows how disproportionately PlayStation 5 owners play Fortnite. At least for now, Sony has proven to be 1-1 on their live service initiative, between Helldivers 2 and the infamous Concord.
Last February, GiantBomb editor and now co-owner Jeff Grubb claimed that Fairgame$ was already delayed to 2026. Given how visible the bad initial reception was, this seemed understandable. This announcement certainly makes it look like there could be a lot more going on behind the scenes.
Jason Schreier cites sources who claim that Raymond’s exit happened a few weeks after Fairgame$ was received poorly in an external test, which must have either been an alpha or a beta. Apparently, Schreier is in contact with people in Haven, who were concerned with how the game was coming along.
This certainly mirrors the rumors we’ve been hearing and reporting about the first-party live-service games that Sony have been working on. Marathon had a better showing than many gamers expected, but the prevailing narrative of the moment is it isn’t good enough to keep players engaged. Worse, the recent start of Arc Raiders’ playtests has hijacked Marathon’s hype.
It must be said, while gamers would make such narratives about potential Call of Duty or Battlefield killers, we have seen that most new live service games, even those that do find early success, struggle to maintain their fanbases, in most cases even in a matter of months.
But even without taking that into account, Payday 3’s dire state does not bode well for any developers who want to make their own heist co-op games. That’s just as true for Haven’s Fairgame$ as it is for Avalanche Studios’ Contraband. We’re just going to have to wait and see how either game turns out in the coming years.
