Sony's aggressive focus on live service titles continues to falter. Following the failure of Concord and the embarrassments surrounding Marathon, attention has now shifted to Haven Studios and their project Fairgames. Once billed as the company's next big showcase, the game has now suffered another blow.
According to reports, the game's director Daniel Drapeau has left the project and instead joined WB Games. The departure reportedly happened quietly two months ago, and comes shortly after Haven's own CEO Jade Raymond stepped down, adding further instability to the studio.
At the same time, rumours of Fairgames being cancelled have swirled around the industry, though Sony has firmly denied them in official statements. Still, the problems are hard to ignore. Internal tests of an early pre-alpha build were said to have gone badly, with testers describing the experience as generic and lacking a clear identity.
As it stands, Fairgames is expected to launch next year, but with such a turbulent development, it remains to be seen whether that release window can hold.