PlayStation’s live-service push has been something of a bust over the last few years. The company has invested a lot of time and money in chasing the next big live-service game, and right now, there hasn’t been much to show for it. One of the live-service titles currently in development for PS5 is Fairgames, from developer Haven Studios. PlayStation hasn’t offered much information lately, and we know studio founder Jade Raymond parted ways with the team earlier this year. In an August 16th episode of Pachter Factor, analyst Michael Pachter seemed to indicate that Fairgames has been cancelled.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Following that episode’s release, Pachter’s comments have made their way across social media. However, the analyst quickly walked back his original comments. In a statement provided to The Destin Channel released on August 17th (via Push Square), Pachter said that he “misspoke. Said Jade was let go, and assumed it was cancelled. I have no info on the game at all.” That doesn’t necessarily mean that Fairgames won’t end up cancelled at some point, but for the time being, it appears to be safe.
PS5 users have little reason to feel confidence in the overall live-service initiative right now. Sony was planning to release several live-service games this generation, and many have since been cancelled. There was a live-service God of War game in development at one point, as well as an online multiplayer take on The Last of Us, neither of which will now see release. Of course, the most high-profile live-service flop was last year’s Concord. The game got a heavy push from Sony, with a special DualSense controller released, as well as an episode of Amazon’s Secret Level animated series. Despite this, PlayStation pulled the plug on the game after it had been available for about two weeks.
If all of that wasn’t problematic enough, the overall perception towards Fairgames has been highly negative for a while now. There have been reports for months that testing for the game has not gone well, which in turn led to speculation that all of this might have some connection to Raymond’s departure from the studio. It’s entirely possible that Fairgames will eventually launch in a fine state, and could end up being a compelling piece of software. However, things don’t seem to be going great for PlayStation’s live-service games in general, which is why it’s so easy for players to believe it when rumors like this start making the rounds.
On top of the fact that PlayStation fans are having trouble finding a reason to be excited about games that might not make it to market (or even that they’ll last for long if they do), there’s a general feeling that Sony is pulling resources away from the types of games PS5 owners would rather see. With all that the company seems to be spending on titles like Concord and Fairgames, it seems a lot of people would much rather see that money spent elsewhere.
Are you looking forward to Fairgames? Do you think the game will actually end up getting released? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Disney+ -
Image courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Image Courtesy of Netflix.
