Jade Raymond Exits PlayStation Amid Sony Live-Service Turmoil

Sony-owned Haven Studios, developer of the upcoming online multiplayer shooter Fairgames, has lost its founder Jade Raymond as the game faces a reported delay following an unpromising external test. This marks another setback for PlayStation's ambitious live service strategy.

Bloomberg reports that Raymond departed the company she founded several weeks after Fairgames underwent an external test that apparently yielded disappointing results. Originally scheduled for a fall 2025 release, the game is now reportedly pushed back to spring 2026.

As Bloomberg described the situation:

PlayStation leadership did not provide Haven staff with a reason for Raymond's exit, but it came weeks after an external test of the studio's first project, the online shooter Fairgames, according to anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Some developers at Haven expressed concerns about the game's reception and development progress, the sources added.

Sony is currently maintaining its support for Haven Studios and Fairgames, appointing new co-studio heads Marie-Eve Danis and Pierre-François Sapinski to lead the project forward.

This development adds to the mounting challenges facing Sony's live service initiative, which appears to be undergoing a significant strategic pullback. While Helldivers 2 from Arrowhead Games emerged as a spectacular success—becoming PlayStation Studios' fastest-selling title ever with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks—Sony's other live service offerings have either been canceled or launched to disastrous results.

Concord stands as one of the most notable failures in PlayStation history, surviving merely weeks before being taken offline due to critically low player engagement. Sony subsequently made the decision to permanently shut down the game and close its development studio.

The Concord collapse followed Sony's earlier cancellation of Naughty Dog's planned The Last of Us multiplayer project. More recently, Sony reportedly scrapped two unannounced live service titles—a God of War game in development at Bluepoint Studios, and another project from Days Gone creator Bend Studio.

Sony initially revealed ambitious plans in February 2022 to launch over 10 live service games by March 2026, promising diverse genres for different audience segments. The company invested heavily in studio acquisitions to support this strategy, bringing Destiny developer Bungie, Jade Raymond's Haven Studios, and the now-defunct Firewalk Studios into its portfolio.

However, by 2023, Sony president Hiroki Totoki announced the company was reassessing its portfolio of 12 live service PlayStation games in development, committing to launch only six by the end of fiscal year 2025 (March 2026). Totoki indicated Sony remained flexible about release schedules for the remaining six titles, emphasizing that "quality should be the most important consideration for gamers" rather than rigid adherence to specific projects.

Bungie continues to champion Sony's live service efforts with the ongoing Destiny 2 and the in-development Marathon, scheduled for full release later this year. Earlier this month, Sony unveiled a new PlayStation studio called teamLFG and teased its debut title as a live service incubation project. Guerrilla Games' Horizon multiplayer title also remains in active development.