In July 2022,PlayStationacquired Haven Studios, a Canadian game developer situated in Montreal, Quebec. Haven Studios' name likely didn’t ring any bells for most gamers, but that’s because it had never released a game at the time. In fact, the studio was established in March 2021, only a year before it was bought byPlayStationowner Sony. Even though Haven Studios was brand-new, it had a lot of talented developers at the helm; the company was founded byAssassin’s CreedandWatch Dogsco-creator Jade Raymond, who was previously employed at Ubisoft, EA, and Stadia. Additionally, more than a hundred employees were working at Haven Studios as of 2022, many of whom were experienced creators behind hit titles likeRainbow Six: Siege.
Sony confirmed that Haven Studios was working on a new live service game shortly after it purchased the firm, but it didn’t reveal what that game was until 2023. During the PlayStation Showcase that year,the two companies announcedFairgames, a co-op heist shooter developed exclusively for PS5 and PC.Fairgameswas met with largely lukewarm reception among PlayStation fans upon its announcement. Many were critical of the lack of gameplay in its vague, CGI-focused reveal trailer, and others were quick to label the game as a derivativePaydayclone, despite not seeing much of it. Haven Studio’s debut project admittedly didn’t make a great first impression, but there’s still a chance that the game may end up being a hit, especially after some recent developments at Sony.
Fairgames Could End Up Being Better than Some Gamers Expect
Fairgames is One of Several Live Service Games in Development at Sony
Sony is typically known for its blockbuster singleplayer games, but the company has been trying to break into the fruitful live service market over the last few years.Fairgameswas just one of several titles that the PlayStation owner invested in as part of this initiative, alongside other games like Bungie’sMarathonand Naughty Dog’s now-canceledThe Last of Us: Online. After thefailure of the PlayStation first-party hero shooterConcord, though, some pundits believed that Sony would pivot away from its live service push entirely.However, according to Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki, this won’t be the case.
Sony is Learning a Lot from Its Recent LIve Service Releases
During a recent meeting with shareholders, Totoki revealed that PlayStation would continue making live service games alongside traditional singleplayer titles. He then added that PlayStation would hold more internal tests going forward in order toprevent a disaster likeConcordfrom happening again. Totoki also stated that Sony learned a lot from the GAAS games it released this year. According to him, the company “intends to share the lessons learned from its successes and failures” across the many studios it owns “so as to strengthen its development management system.”
Sony released two live service games this year: Arrowhead Game Studios’Helldivers 2and Firewalk Studios’Concord. The former was a massive success, while the latter was the exact opposite.
Sony’s Plans to Improve Its Future Live Service Titles Will Likely Benefit Fairgames
The fact that Sony is determined to make its future live service games successful may bode well forFairgames.If PlayStation does indeed learn from its mistakes, as Totoki says, then it’s unlikely that the company will releaseHaven Studio’s upcoming co-op shooterwithout it reaching a certain quality bar. The QA tests Sony plans to put in place for its future GAAS games may benefitFairgamesa lot. Not only will they potentially improve the quality of the game as a whole, but they may also allow it to be as rich in content as possible upon its launch.
It’s unclear exactly howFairgameswill play or when it will even release, buta recent rumor alleged that Sony was very positive aboutFairgamesinternally. Hopefully, this report is true, because ifFairgamesis high-quality and able to distinguish itself from its competitors in meaningful ways, then it may attract a large audience onPlayStationconsoles and PC.
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