The forthcoming PS5 and PC live-service game, Fairgame$, from Sony, has experienced another significant developer departure. Daniel Drapeau, the game director, has left Haven Studios to join WB Games Montreal.
This follows the exit of Haven founder Jade Raymond in May. Reports at that time indicated that Fairgame$ had been postponed until 2026, primarily due to an unfavorable internal playtest.
Drapeau confirmed his move to WB Games Montreal as a creative director for an upcoming project several weeks ago, expressing his enthusiasm with “Let`s do this!” in a LinkedIn update.
A seasoned professional in the video game industry, Drapeau began his career in 2006 with testing and internship roles at VMC and Odd1. He then joined Ubisoft in 2007 as a game designer, eventually rising to become the lead game designer for Rainbow Six Siege. In 2017, he moved to Eidos-Montreal to work on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, before returning to Ubisoft in 2019 for two years. He finally joined Haven Studios in 2021.
The specific project Drapeau will be working on at WB Games Montreal remains unconfirmed. However, the studio was reportedly exploring a new Game of Thrones title earlier this year. WB Games Montreal also contributed to Rocksteady`s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League in 2024 and developed Gotham Knights in 2022.
Regarding Haven and Fairgame$, the game is now rumored to launch in Spring 2026, placing its release in close proximity to Grand Theft Auto 6, which is expected in May 2026.
What is Fairgame$ all about?
As revealed in its announcement trailer, Fairgame$ invites players to target affluent billionaires, portrayed as having excessive wealth and influence. The trailer depicts a team of players cooperatively infiltrating a secure facility, neutralizing guards, and seemingly aiming to challenge the powerful elite.
Creative director Mathieu Leduc described Fairgame$ as an opportunity for players to “break the rules as a modern-day Robin Hood, a thrill seeker, or just someone who wants to collect cool loot.” He added, “Trespass inside forbidden locations around the world, fill your pockets like a kid in a candy store and unravel the nefarious plans of untouchable billionaires.”
Sony`s Live-Service Strategy in Turmoil
When Fairgame$ was initially announced in 2023, Sony was heavily investing in and promoting the live-service game market. The company had ambitious plans to release 12 live-service titles over several years, alongside its continued commitment to single-player experiences. However, by May 2023, Sony revised its strategy, cutting its projected live-service game output by half, emphasizing a shift towards quality over quantity. This change led to the cancellation of Naughty Dog`s The Last of Us multiplayer game in December 2023.
Despite these challenges, early 2024 brought Sony its most significant live-service success with Helldivers 2. The game achieved record-breaking sales, becoming the third best-selling game of 2024 in the US. Its recent launch on Xbox, coupled with new updates, has further boosted its popularity.
Conversely, August 2024 saw the release of Sony`s multiplayer game Concord, which performed so poorly that Sony quickly withdrew it from sale and issued refunds to all players. Its developer, Firewalk, was subsequently closed. By the end of 2024, Sony confirmed the cancellation of several other projects, including a live-service version of God of War and another from Bend Studio.
Reports from 2023 indicated that former PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, who departed Sony in 2024, had directed Sony`s development teams to prioritize games-as-a-service titles. This directive reportedly caused dissatisfaction among some PlayStation developers, with initial blame falling on Connie Booth, a highly respected and long-serving PlayStation developer, which eventually contributed to her departure.
Shuhei Yoshida, another former PlayStation executive, recently expressed skepticism about the high chances of success in the competitive live-service market, calling them “small.” His successor, Hermen Hulst, however, was allocated resources to fund both single-player and live-service games simultaneously. Yoshida quipped that had he remained in his role, he “would have tried to resist” the live-service push, joking that this might have been “one of the reasons they removed me.”
Beyond Fairgame$, Sony continues to develop several other live-service titles, including Bungie`s Marathon, which is facing its own difficulties and has been delayed indefinitely. Another project, internally codenamed “Gummy Bears,” originating from Bungie at SIE, recently reached a significant development milestone.
Following the commercial failure of Concord, CEO Hermen Hulst stated that Sony has implemented new frameworks to ensure its future live-service games are launched in a more robust state.