PlayStation reportedly cancels Fairgames after recent playtests

PlayStation has reportedly cancelled its upcoming live service game, Fairgames.

As reported by Bloomberg, PlayStation says it cancelled Fairgames after the results of a recent playtest “fell short of the goals we had set.” It comes three years after Fairgames was initially revealed in 2023.

“While the test demonstrated strong operational excellence, live ops readiness and community engagement, player feedback and retention results were mixed and fell short of the goals we had set,” reads a note reportedly penned by executives Sean Decker and John Doyle.

“Combined with challenging market conditions in the PVP shooter genre, we have made the difficult decision to cease development on the game.”

Footage from this playtest seemingly leaked online in September. If this was indeed Fairgames, then it was the first piece of gameplay footage we had seen. Other than that, all we had to go on were cinematics in the announcement trailer from 2023.

It is being reported that developer Haven Studios will not be closing down as a result of this decision, nor will there be any layoffs.

This also comes as Sony‘s live service ventures have produced mixed results. While Helldivers 2 was a win, Concord flopped, and PlayStation went on to shut down developer Firewalk Studios.

Meanwhile, Bungie is trying to grow Marathon‘s playerbase, so it makes sense that PlayStation doesn’t want to add another live service into the mix right now.

With these factors in mind, this report regarding Fairgames is unsurprising. We already knew that development was struggling behind the scenes, as it had been reported that internal playtests were negatively received as far back as 2025. If recent playtests failed to inspire either, it’s likely Sony decided not to fund the project further, especially given the state of the live service market.

PlayStation is yet to publicly comment on claims that Fairgames has been cancelled.