The fate of PlayStation's upcoming live-service game Fairgames is once again under scrutiny as its creative director, Daniel Drapeau, has confirmed he has left Haven Studios to join Warner Bros. Games Montreal.
It's the second high-profile exit of the summer, with studio founder Jade Raymond also exiting back in May, several weeks after an external playtest reportedly met a lukewarm response.
"As of this week, I joined WB Games Montreal Inc. as creative director," Drapeau announced in a LinkedIn post. "I can't wait to start this wonderful adventure with all the great people here at the studio. I also want to particularly thank Yves Lachance, Logan A. Lesage, and Bryan Theberge for their trust and support throughout the process. Now, let's do this!"
The news follows a rocky time for the game's development, and incorrect industry speculation surrounding its future. Last month, analyst Michael Pachter wrongly claimed the game had been canceled, though was later forced to walk back his statement and admit he had "no info on the game at all."
Neither Haven nor Sony have commented publicly on Drapeau's departure.
Regardless, the news will hardly restore confidence in PlayStation's embattled live service ambitions. Sony announced plans in February 2022 to launch more than 10 live service games by March 2026, later saying the push would bring games of different genres to different audiences. It spent big on studio buyouts as part of the drive, bringing in Destiny developer Bungie, the now shuttered Firewalk Studios, and, of course, Haven Studios.
Firewalk, you'll remember, was the studio behind Concord, one of the biggest disasters in PlayStation history. Just a couple of weeks after it launched to eye-wateringly low player numbers, Sony decided to kill the game entirely and shortly thereafter shut down its development studio.
The Concord flop came after Sony had already canceled Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game. And earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced live-service games, one a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, the other in the works at Days Gone developer Bend.
On the flip side, Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 has been a breakout hit, and became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks.
Fairgames — stylized as Fairgame$ — is described as "a competitive modern heist game where you team up to break into exotic locations and steal the cargo." The twist is that you not only need to outsmart guards and security systems, but you also need to compete against other teams, too. There's no word yet on when it'll launch.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.