Sony’s Live-Service Title Fairgames Loses Another Key Developer During Development

Sony’s live-service plans take another hit as Haven Studios’ upcoming shooter Fairgames has lost its creative director in the middle of development. The embattled title has already faced plenty of hardships during development, with many questions still remaining for Fairgames as Sony’s major PlayStation live-service plans continue not to go according to the original plan.

Following the massive success of Helldivers 2, Sony revealed ambitious plans to expand its live-service offerings by releasing 10 games within that genre by 2026. Unfortunately, Sony’s plans haven’t come to fruition and have been largely marked by cancelations, issues, and other problems, with the most high profile of them all being the multiplayer shooter Concord, which was not only a sales disaster but led to both the game and studio being shut down after launch. More bad news has seemingly befallen Sony’s plans as the shooter Fairgames has lost another key member of its development team.

Fairgames Creative Director Leaves the Studio Mid-Development

Recently on LinkedIn, Daniel Drapeau announced that he had left Haven Studios and his position as Creative Director on Fairgames. He goes on to confirm in his post that he has joined Warner Bros Games Montreal in the same role, expressing excitement over this next stage of his career. Unfortunately for Sony, Drapeau’s departure is another major blow to Sony’s live-service plans as well as Fairgames‘ already rocky development, with gameplay details being relatively scarce following its official reveal during the 2023 PlayStation Showcase.

This isn’t the first high-profile member to leave the game during development, as Haven Studio head Jade Raymond left the company last May. Reports indicated a closed playtest of Fairgames was quietly distributed to a select number of players, though feedback on the experience was less than ideal. Players were said to have described the pre-alpha experience as clunky and lacking polish as the gameplay attempted to incorporate elements seen in extraction shooters and battle royales like Fortnite.

Even with Helldivers 2 continuing to find success through new updates and collaborations, pressure continues to mount on Sony’s live-service plans. Numerous games have reportedly been canceled, including Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer title. Destiny 2‘s recent expansion, The Edge of Fate, saw disappointing player engagement numbers at launch and the studio’s other title, Marathon, has been embattled in controversy, which ultimately led to a delay into 2026.