Probably not the best news you are looking for right before your new game releases….
Jade Raymond is known leading teams on Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs. Jade got a chance to open a whole new studio for Ubisoft, Toronto, which created Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and then she also helped create the Star Wars branch under EA. It’s easy to say she has been busy at work her whole career, but when she decided to open her own studio entirely, things got exciting.
In 2021 she co-founded Haven Studios, which was acquired by Sony rather quickly in 2022, with the two working together on their first project before the team even formed, Fairgame$. The game fit in the catalog of live service titles Sony was focusing on at the time, with Jim Ryan changing gears from story based single player titles, to longevity live service titles.
Fast forward a few years, Fairgame$ is in late development and Sony has been scarred by Concord, which didn’t even last a month on the market, and hasn’t seen much success in their new path. Sony, now probably a little more critical of their live service failures, has play tested Fairgame$ and according to rumors it hasn’t gone over well internally. Publicly the game has released several trailers which haven’t garnered too much hype overall, and there haven’t been any play tests for fans, a huge mistake that Concord made. More play tests means more feedback, and a better overall game…..
Perhaps it was a power struggle on creative freedom, or something a little deeper, but it appears to have caused Jade Raymond to leave the studio entirely. She isn’t the first co-founder to leave either as Sebastien Puel left in 2022, shortly after Sony acquired the studio. Fairgame$ is still in development according to Sony which states they are “providing full support for the team,” but it has been delayed at least into 2026.
Hopefully we get to see Jade Raymond back at it in the future.
