Fairgames, One of Sony's Last Live-Service PS5 Games, Loses Studio Founder Amid Internal Worries

I don't want anyone lose their jobs but this is good news for me I hope all live service games get cancelled then sony can go full back singler player games hopefully she goes back to ubisoft though it's sad that some of these developers are losing there jobs because greedy executives are trying to chase the live service dream and making them make them games.

I can’t decide whether to be relieved or concerned. To say Sony’s live service projects are struggling would be an understatement.

Maybe Raymond leaving is unrelated to any problem with the game. Maybe the game is excellent. Maybe… 😒

I get when leadership leaves after a release, but this far before? Something is really wrong here. Either Sony insisted on changes she wasn’t ecstatic about or the game was not in a good state when shown to them and they held her accountable.

Either way it’s a bad look. In other news, hey! Bungie stealing art again! Whee!

Lol all the people still hyping up Jade Raymond. And again she leaves before the game comes out. How many times will the industry hire her? Shes been putting nothing put since AC1

Yikes, sounds like a total ****show behind the scenes. I’m glad the developers are speaking out, though. We don’t want another Concord situation where devs were afraid to give criticism

Yeah sounds like Fairgame$ and the studio will end up in the chopping block.

Welp, this game is cooked.

Hoo boy that's a bad sign...

Well, I already know the discussion that's going to take place here...

But I confess that seeing Jade fail in so many places makes me think that perhaps this is more her responsibility than that of the Playstation itself

I don't know what to think about Fairgames. I know many people want it to fail... I never wish that on a game. I haven't even seen gameplay to judge...but yes, it's complicated to be optimistic about Haven Studios/FairGames. It seems that the most likely scenario is that the game will be canceled/studio closed.

Well... if that happens, the only studio left that's doing a live service is Media Molecule, right?

Raymond has to have bailed on more games than she's completed at this point.

She is leaving the ship before it sinks.

Definitely not looking forward to this game 👀

Put Jim Ryan in the Cyrodiil Imperial City Prison

Like I been said when Jim left, Hermen should have been shown the door too.

Not really happy about anybody losing their job, but Jade Raymond hasn't delivered anything in 8 years. She is slowly approaching Peter Molyneux territory of unreliability.

@-Sigma- I tend to give Hulst a little more grace because Jim was the "chase the Fortnite bux" architect and HZD is a masterpiece (imo)

@VaultGuy415 he definitely needs go somewhere like that him and the hermen guy

Doubtful we will ever know the full truth behind this, but something is definitely wrong here.

Was it that bad she was pushed?

Was it that bad that (before being pushed) she lost all confidence in herself and maybe her team? - if so probably best to go early so there is time for someone else to pull it around.

Was it so bad that she didn't want her name attached to it when it fails?

Was she asked to change direction but didn't want to?

Did she still believe in it, but no one else did after seeing it?

The 3rd studio she's left in a row. Something tells me she's not a good leader.

@Coffeeglitch Nah this is typical behaviour for her, check out her history this is not the first or second time she's done this.

As Count Dankula would say, “Oh no, what happened? Oh no, how terrible, that’s just awful, how terrible, oh no!”

How many studios has Jade left by now? It's been a decade since she shipped anything of relevance.

@DennisReynolds I was not aware of that. Makes it really apparent that Sony leadership made some bad judgment with their acquisitions and all. I know Jim Ryan gets blamed for a lot but at the same time I can’t imagine he was the only person with any input. What a dumpster fire.

@LogicStrikesAgain I have no doubt many (if not most) of the developers working on this game are wildly talented and stuck working on something they just don’t want to work on. I would absolutely support Sony canning the game and just reassigning the developers on board, there’s no reason to layoff talent if it can be helped. The graphical style is genuinely pretty trippy, but gameplay I just don’t care for.

Not a good sign, I'm foreseeing a game over on this.

Lmfao, just a real sad showing from Sony and Co this gen. I don't think anyone is surprised that this one is likely failing.

Couple that with a very mid reception and outlook for marathon and wasting studio resources for an entire generation, and one has to really question just how blind the entire leadership tier of the outfit must beThey have essentially coasted on new thing other than sentiment coming forward from last gen. At some point folks are going to turn the blinders off and that gas tank will be mere fumes.

You can't keep parroting that this was a Jim Ryan thing here. Clearly the whole ship is being steered by non gamer investor interests.

Great advertising for PC this gen, especially with the diminishing value proposition the console holders are choosing merely for short term gains.

It feels tough to judge Raymond for her rocky career these past few years. The games industry is really treacherous these days, especially on such high budget games with long development cycles. There's so much room for things to go wrong, unlike in the PS2 era where development cycles were so fast there was a lot less time (and money on the line) for things to go off the rails. Lower stakes, fewer focus groups too.

I'm a big fan of Amy Hennig, and so feel I'd be a hypocrite to judge Raymond too harshly when Hennig hasn't gotten a game out the gate since 2011's Uncharted 3. It sounds bad on the face of it, but when you look at what happened in each individual case, she was really thrown around by what seems like an uncaring industry.

Yeah, there's no way to spin this as a positive for Fairgame$$$ (£&!#@$$$), whose one appearance vIa a CGI trailer already left a sour taste in the mouths of those of us tired of empty, performative and tone-deaf 'eat-the-rich-by-eating-your-fellow-proletariat' messaging.

That being said, I'd really like to see another showing, maybe less on the asinine social commentary and more on solid gameplay. I think after Concord, any studio head with some humility should be able to allow some room for course correction (could that have been the fork in the road here?).

I only know Jade Raymond because of the time she went to present an award at the game awards while drunk

@Dan12836666 i don't think she left ubisoft on good terms lol, also live service games doesn't always mean online multiplayer games , no mans sky is a live service game.

Yeah leadership leaving is questionable. For other places to go sure but for how much of a project I do question it. Or to be in the hands of other leadership.

Whatever Sony expects is also a factor. Their expectations, the team's efforts. Leadership's expectations. It's a lot of money, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of understanding how to approach the market or just give up because numbers are numbers and people are people. If they don't understand people, how filled up and comfort food the ones out there are, why bother. XD

People wanting something different will go to it when ready. Otherwise you get streamers, messaging and not much of an audience other then to check it out and move on.

PS3/360 era onwards to me game design for worlds and gameplay has been obvious how bland it is. So to me for 3 gens with it, 20 somethings or older and what ideas get offered, and besides execs, pubs and more leadership or design demands it's just been hilarious how pathetic games have been multiplayer or singleplayer ideas, character feel, progression, movesets, world design, being so scripted/static then more dynamic or engaging ideas. Just bland and pathetic. The trend following is also not distinct enough of products following it.

I can go back to so many platformers, shooters, racing and more whether AAA, AA, B grade, whatever, that did a good enough job of mechanics and distinct ideas to convey them, they are all memorable to me. I barely remember any games this era and can research games I've never heard of and remember them, sometimes forget the names but remember them. I barely remember Indies, AA or AAA of this era they are so forgettable and impactless.

I remember more retro games I have discovered for the first time and failed consoles then modern gaming slop. It's not emotion or connection/want of the past, it's the quality they offered, it's just boring creations of the modern era that's all. Easily forgettable. Even with less releases, particular angle of companies, they are still forgettable projects/products.

Further and further they got worse and more blatant it was a joke and the joke is just tiring more and more PS4/5 era.

They don't understand the market, Destruction Allstars Lucid should even have known better but didn't. What a joke. Devs are put through things or are just as stupid, either is possible.

While Sony wants a certain direction and it doesn't work. The differences/similarities to other products is just lazy let alone the market is already clear of those that will stay and those that aren't getting in because their hook and ideas are weak.

All the geniuses who green lit all these Sony live service games should be blacklisted from the games industry! This game was already dead on arrival now it's dead before arrival.

This game and the studio was her babies, if she's now saying " F this I want no part of this crap" then Sony should cancel this game immediately and cut the losses.

@KundaliniRising333 Dim Jim made the decision to pursue the "12 live service games" to excite the bankers. It's not controversial or "parroting" to state the facts. He personally announced it in February (when it was 10 games) and May of 2022. Look it up

Part 2:
I already see enough weak Indies (regardless of their skills their creativity is still weak), AA and AAA. Why would I care what other weak ideas, themes, movesets, progression, worlds, setting, and more offer if they keep making them so pathetic this generation and as much if not lazier then PS4 gen did and I didn't even like PS4/Xbox One games 1st or 3rd party that much. Now I care about none of them at all. Nintendo is having their awkwardness too and it's annoying me. Retro is just getting better and better.

While Indies in adventure/puzzle do great and platformer, shooter, racing Indies make me laugh at their stupidity of nostalgia, wish fulfillment and lazy game design off of clones or bad ideas/direction but are too stupid to realise because they can't think outside the box to be a distinct product, audiences are just as much joke probably or cover up enough of their lacking skills and form potential from it. They just fall into too many traps and it's really disappointing.

Another game we all said would bomb. Might not even get to the point of bombing.

They'll probably hike PS+ prices again... it's the only consistent strategy they've been relying on since they got infected by the live service disease.

Anyone thinking of hiring or buying this woman's next startup should start putting the clown makeup on now and save the meme community the trouble.

@Midovich I know it's sonys fault they've messed up not the gamers nearly all of gamers don't want live service in the 1st place

@LiamCroft this woman has been conning her way through gaming companies for over a decade how does she keep getting away with this 😳

I'm not a fan of these types of games. But I feel like she and everyone involved just wasted their time and effort.

I'd love to be wrong but I can't say I have much faith in this project.

Just think of all the Tokyo Jungle sequels Sony could have made instead of all these ill-advised live service games.

Just cancel it and let them, with ND’s guidance, reignite Factions! as we all know that would sell a bucketload. Just stay out of it Bungie 😆

All I remember seeing of Fairgames is a generic CG trailer so I don’t have strong feelings about it but if the development is that troubled they should just kill it.

Jade Raymond. Continuing her long journey of irrelevance.

Does she ever stick around?

@Drago201 probably because all the men fancy her it's probably true lol

Hey, you could put the studio to a good use, just make them work on a Killzone or Resistance remaster.

Jade Raymond is washed up. She's turned into a grifter that just floats from one studio to the next, maybe they could rename and rework this game into something else but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The real reality...and it's not good...hear me out. These live service successes are so rare that Sony is still actually crushing lol. Just GT7 and HD2 alone are absurdly popular NEW(ish) live service titles, especially the latter. Finding one diamond in that ever expanding coal mine is all but impossible as GTAO, Fornite, Marvel Rivals and random Gatchas hog up 90%+ of the market. It's gross. But they leveraged a lot and haven't actually been burned. Sure the 4-6 canceled we know of probably had close 250-500 million invested. But the 2 successes coupled with the 3rd party live service revenue means they are eating good...it's scary lolol

Herman Hulst needs to go, this guy has wasted hundreds of millions buying studios that are hopeless. No way can he waste this kind of money and be safe in employment..

Just cancel the game and sack the studio, nobody want this but sony executives that want live service games, it's cheaper than having another concord 😕

The last 5 years of PlayStation as a brand has been pretty lackluster. The whole live service push and follow up fumbles really makes one question the direction of the whole platform. Some majorly poor decision making happened when things shuffled around a few years ago.

It’s weird, how the brand as a whole went from the highs of the late-PS3 era and PS4 era to the current PS5 era is night and day. The PS5 hardware is great, the accessories are some of the best Sony has made but the software side has taken a major backseat and it’s baffling how they can fumble it as much as they have.

I assume that these external testers were from Bungie, with the same task as they had with Factions.

While they probably killed a great TLoU game (with too little meat on its Live Service bones), in this case they could have done both Sony and the customers a great favour.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement of the cancellation in the next weeks.

I understand why people don't like her. She hasn't done anything of any importance since 2017 and yet she's done very well for herself financially and manages to keep herself in the spotlight and is always there just waiting for another studio to hire her so she can make even more money whilst doing absolutely f**k all. Kudos to her 👍

the pro live service comments on push square from a few years back have aged like fine wine huh? it must be time to acknowledge that this live service strategy was a bad idea, yes? to me it sounds like jade doesn't want to take flack for the disaster that will inevitably follow once fairgames a) gets cancelled or b) releases and bombs to the same degree of concord. sorry, but jade is not a leader... nor is she a visionary or someone to put on a pedestal as so much of the gaming media has done over the years. why, exactly? she barely has a scratch on her resume. it is difficult to call her a professional as she is clearly running away from her own mess and is too afraid to bare any responsibility for it. yup, just as predicted... things will continue to get worse for sony before this terrible ps5 cycle is over. when will the nightmare end???

Dead on arrival Sony never should've bought this stupid studio well shall we start digging the plot? 😅

@Northern_munkey what did she do in 2017?.... she was a suit at EA, not a games producer/director/creative. The last games that she actually had something/anything to do with are from Ubisoft days in 2014... and who knows how much she did then.

That being said, I think it's pretty typical of the dog-piling that the internet lives on that not only are people (not so quietly) cheering for her leaving, but for the entire studio to fold... without any real information as to what's been going on. Whether it was going to be dumpster fire or not, I just wish people (in general) would stop salivating at games (even live service ones) bombing... because it doesn't help anyone if they do; and it doesn't necessarily mean more SP games are coming (more likely it just means more remasters).

I think people are forgetting where the world was prior to the purchase of the studio in 2021... there was a small thing called covid, and the threat of a game-dev workforce being severly distributed (either from necessity or because they had grown used to it). Raymond/Haven were offering up cloud-based Google tech (I mean experience... as I'm sure it was all above board). I think Fairgame$ was always the cherry on top - or at least that was the strategy.

Unfortunately for Sony (fortunately for us) the world returned to some sort of normality, and the games bubble slowly deflated. So the reasons for buying the studio didn't really make as much sense. And yes - that was 4 years ago, so I think Sony execs still have responsibility to keep an eye on what was going on. The fact that there's been so little news - other than a poorly received trailer that said nothing - was never a good sign.

But still, people need to slow down the witch-hunt-party-planning and draw breath. We don't know why she left, or what state the game (or studio) is in. It could be that she's a serial smoke-and-mirror-salesperson; or it could be that the world has changed, and their concept just doesn't make as much sense now. Still - never good for leadership to jump - because it looks like they just want to avoid the stench of failure as much as they can.

Could we all please stop banging the hate-drum for live service games. I don't play or like them, but a crap-tonne of people do, and they can potentially make bank. That's what gaming companies are looking for now; and as much as we all want to complain about the lack of SP games, it's not clear if that money would have significantly created more good SP experienes. Clearly Sony invested too heavily too quickly into GaaS - and they've paid the price. They also are dropping their games support too quickly, and not letting them breath and develop organically. And in my mind, that's even worse.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare she's built herself a fortune for doing absolutely nothing. Is that right? No it's not..pretty disgusting to be honest but nobody prevented her from doing so. She's exploited it to personal gain so whilst it's deplorable I can't not admire her for having the bollocks to do it.

@Northern_munkey to be honest, I know so many people that move from one project to another before they produce the thing they've been hired to do. Successful career management requires you to optimize personal potential whilst minimizing personal liability. It's apparently all about timing on when to exit stage left... with style. Before the tomatoes start flying.

To be honest, I was surprised about Haven - and I wonder if the promised tech they were going to bring into Sony's studios actually ended up going anywhere anyway. The challenge she had was that her reputation is as much about starting Ubisoft Montreal as it is about AC... and I think much of the faith in Haven stemmed in that. However, there's a big difference spinnnig up an Ubisoft studio (in those days) and pulling together an entire studio based on people who were leaving a failed venture (Stadia).

I hope that Sony learns, but I suspect the only lesson they'll learn is to avoid risk altogether - rather than accept risk but manage it.

The trailer looked dismal, the art style was as whack as the forgettable title... ( a dollar sign? So edgy...) and what was the unique selling point, again? Oh, a colourful 1st/ 3rd person live service shooter. Haven't had one of those in a minute... 🙄

When will we start getting more original games again, instead of incessant extraction shooter and gacha game clones?

Just a suggestion for Sony towers, maybe try reaching out to Shuhei Yoshida &/or Shawn Layden whether jointly (given neither may want the rigours of full time travel),or one or the other & help train up some good management talent? Cancelled projects can & do happen, but the amount of closures & half baked ideas not just from Hermen Hulst but seemingly when other longtime producers departed for his "captain's picks",have consistently come up short...just when is Mr Hulst actually put under the spotlight vs all the devs he's thrown onto the proverbial train tracks to date?

The Sony live service Hindenburg-level disaster continues.

This girl can't stay in one place for very long. What a disaster.

Who didn't see this coming? Their dream of microtransactions should be mated with what they're good at. If all of these studios were working on expansions and add on content to their masterpieces, as well as new IP in the realm of what they are good at, they would be making bank already.

That's funny.
Jade Raymond again. Sorry but I think she became to big for her own boots and this is the result. That's 2 studios now

Plenty of blame to go around. Jade for not releasing anything, ever. Sony for not recognizing talent, lately.

Why is she relevant though?? Why do people report on her?? Hasn't produced anything relevant in over 10 years

@Th3solution jade raymond has quit the last 5 studios of every game she worked on.
she has a hand in not listening.

amy hennig would be a better leader.

@CielloArc I’m pretty sure the rumor was people may fly is doing resistance

Sony has many many games of the past they could use has live service e.g. killzone? That title has been invisible for awhile why not revive it through a a BR or summin

it’s the sequel to Concord everybody but Sony saw coming.

This will flop too, but they have destiny, marathon and helldivers. They don't need anymore gas shooters

@themightyant

MLB The Show? Which one? It's a established franchise with a yearly release going all the way back to 2002, Gran Turismo 7 is also a single player game and 13th entry in a long established racing game franchise and Destiny 2 was built off of the first game's reputation as well as Bungie's when Activision was the publisher. Bungie built its reputation making Halo for Xbox.

So Sony's only real success with an actual strictly multiplayer live service game AND one that is a new IP is Helldivers 2.

So after 5 years, they only have one successful game. That's pretty bad.

@RagnarLothbrok agreed she’s been let go from every role she’s had the last ten years. You’d have to worry if she joined your team next.

@Cikajovazmaj She worked under him at Google Stadia right? She must have learned well. St this point she is worst than Amy Henig who I also think she worked with on that Cancelled Star Wars game... I'm sensing a pattern.

ROFL. 🤣 Oh Sony... The Live service obsession has completely destroyed the PS5 generation. Worst 1st party output for PS ever during this generation. I regret my day one PS5 purchase. Such a disappointment overall. 🤦‍♂️

As for Jade, she'll probably pop up at Microsoft or Epic or some 💩 I guess. 🤷‍♂️

@themightyant mlb and gran turismo were essentially live service games since the ps3 era. they didn't need to pivot and change their business models and naturally lend themselves to the "live service" umbrella (even though they are not true live service games). i wouldn't count those in the conversation for other reasons as well, including the fact they are old, tried and tested IP that will sell by default any way you slice it.

now, if we look at sony's track record for new IP that it created specifically under the live-service model, they only have 1 success story and countless failures. that does not bring an air of confidence to anyone. serious question: how many more collossal failures should sony endure before they take a step back?

@themightyant to be fair, it's a lot more games being impacted than just concord and last of us online. bend studio has not released a game in 6 years and as we know, they were knee deep with their live service game before it to was cancelled. there was also bluepoint's live service god of war game that was in development for many years (likely even before demon's souls remake was released). fairgames will likely be canned before we know it or become just another forgettable blip if it does release. there is also the cancelled twisted metal and spiderman live service games. so that's 7 major blows, most of which won't ever see the light of day and recoup even a fraction of their budget back. i wouldn't hold my breath for the horizon mmo game either but remains to be seen...

the main issue is that, despite what some people claim, all these failed black hole live service projects do in fact take resources away from the single player games (that we both agree is sony's biggest strength). hopefully sony and the shareholders will take a look at the entirety of the ps5 gen in a few years and better evaluate how they proceed forward with the ps6. it would be quite sad if no lessons were learned throughout this painful process. as i said in a previous comment above, sony is in a position of privilege in that they can capitalize from other publishers' live service success stories and collect revenue from dlc and mtx. sony themeslves don't need to take all the risks in coming up with a big live service game and can instead stick to what they are good at in the same way nintendo does — primarily great single player games.

Maybe Jade is jaded 😂

@TruestoryYep i think thats the problem people just assume live service means battle royale , or mulitplayer games , gt7 is a live service game , single players can be live service. A live service game is a game that gets regular content updates after launch, as opposed to a game that just releases once and the game is done.

@EVIL-C The ps5 coming out in a pandemic didn't help things.

@Bez87 shes already been replaced , maybe the game will be in better hands with out her.

@twitchtvpat That's a piece of it, but Sony made the conscious decision going into PS5 development to quadruple down on live service multiplayer stuff, which many PS gamers didn't want.