It seems like one of PlayStation’s big upcoming online games could be headed toward the same fate as Concord. PlayStation’s strategy for the PS5 generation has been… puzzling to say the least. After absolutely crushing it last generation with non-stop amazing single player games, PlayStation decided to make a bigger pivot to live-service games. While there have been some great single player games on PS5, they’ve been few and far between. Astro Bot and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are the last notable ones (that aren’t second party games like Silent Hill 2) and one of those was a year and a half ago.
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PlayStation has since canceled a bunch of live-service games including a new God of War and perhaps more upsettingly, the long-awaited Last of Us Online, a game that people really wanted. Unfortunately, Naughty Dog felt that it was best to scrap the game in order to continue developing single player games as an online game would’ve pulled too many resources away from the development of its bread and butter. PlayStation took another hit last year with the failure of Concord, a total misfire that aimed to compete with live-service shooters like Overwatch or Destiny. The game was released to extremely low player counts and then was removed from sale a week later, prompting the studio to also be shuttered.
It was a bomb like no one had ever seen in this industry. It seemed like PlayStation expected it to be the next big thing, but it wasn’t. It also seemed like PlayStation was pulling back on future live service efforts. However, there are still more coming down the pipeline. Bungie will release Marathon later this year and hopefully that will succeed. Then sometime later, we will get a new game called Fairgames. The multiplayer PS5 game is still a bit of a mystery, but it was from a new PlayStation team called Haven, led by Assassin’s Creed producer Jade Raymond.
Is Fairgames Going to Be Another Concord Situation for PlayStation?
Unfortunately, we may be looking at another Concord situation. Bloomberg has reported that Jade Raymond has left Haven, a puzzling move since Haven has yet to ship a game. Why set up a studio just to leave it a few years later? No one really knows why Raymond left. Of course, this could be because of personal reasons and that should be respected if that’s the case. However, Raymond has had a rocky track record when it comes to seeing games through. Some of this is out of her control, such as when she went to work on Google Stadia and that ended up being dissolved by Google.
With that said, Bloomberg has reported that Fairgames isn’t being received well. Raymond’s departure comes shortly after external testing for the new PS5 game. Those tests reportedly led to concerns about the state of the game and how it’s progressing from the staff at Haven. The PlayStation game was apparently planning to release this fall, but it has shifted to spring 2026… which puts it close to the release of GTA 6 and depending on what EA does, possibly the release of Battlefield 6 as well.
While it’s totally possible Fairgames manages to stick the landing, the signs are concerning and could lead to another extremely expensive bomb for PlayStation, not dissimilar from Concord. Releasing close to potentially multiple gaming giants that will swallow up the online gaming community and it not being very good would be devastating. Of course, I hope this game is good. I want PlayStation to succeed and I don’t want to see another studio have all of its time and talent wasted once again. I just hope that the people in charge are taking the best approach possible to making sure this game succeeds. Only time will tell what happens, but hopefully, we hear more about Fairgames soon.
