Documents sent to Insider Gaming indicate that Haven Studios’ upcoming multiplayer game, ‘Fairgames’, will lean into the extraction shooter genre with a dedicated game mode.
The game, which was revealed in 2023, has sparked several rumors and reports about its development troubles, notably issues with the studio’s ability to find the “fun factor”.
Despite those issues, though, PlayStation has continued to invest in the game, with its next playtest scheduled for this weekend.
Officially, the game was described in 2023 as a “competitive heist experience”, which didn’t reveal too much about what the game would be. But in short, at least for one of the game’s flagship game modes named ‘Cargo Heist,’ it is basically an extraction shooter with an objective (think Marathon with a contract for those who have played).
The game modes description reads:
Break In – Find a vault code to gain access to the safe. Collect cash, upgrade your skillset, and make your play.
Drill – The vault is breached. Be the team to grab the cargo, or set up your strategy to intercept it.
Extract – The Cargo must be brought to the Extraction Site. Use the Extraction device to call your ride home. If your team fails to extract cargo, use another exit to Getaway.
An Uphill Climb
Fairgames has had a number of issues throughout its development, including the studio’s founder, Jade Reymond, leaving in 2025.
Reports and rumors of the game throughout its development have said that playtesters found the game “not fun”, which Insider Gaming understands has been a persistent problem throughout the game’s development.
Frankly, it doesn’t bode well for the game when you consider that Bungie’s latest game, Marathon, has struggled to retain players despite high Metacritic reviews.
One thing going for Fairgames is that the game is apparently free-to-play, relying on in-game monetization to fund future development and cover its costs. However, initial popular games like Ubisoft’s XDefiant have proven that high player counts on a free-to-play model mean little if players aren’t spending.
Another cause for concern for PlayStation will also be 10 Chambers’ upcoming heist game ‘Den of Wolves’, which has received rave reviews from people who have played it early, and now, after seeing both games, the similarities are stark – So much so that I had to delay writing this article because I thought the documentation I was shown was Den of Thieves.
What do you think of Fairgames and its having an extraction shooter element? Leave your thoughts down in the comments, and join the official Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more information from Insider Gaming, read about Windrose hitting 500,000 players within 2 days of early access. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Tom Henderson is Insider Gaming's Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief. When he's not running one of the industry's leading independent video game websites, he's probably playing an FPS like Call of Duty,…
More from Tom Henderson
Concord 4 anyone?