Sony’s Fairgames Is Somehow Still Alive And Reportedly Competing In The Extraction Shooter Space

It’s been almost three years since Fairgames was originally revealed in a PlayStation Showcase, and the multiplayer heist shooter is somehow still alive and kicking. Insider Gaming reports that the first-party PS5 game is even creeping into extraction shooter territory with one of its modes.

The mode is reportedly called “Cargo Heist” and functions like a round of Bungie’s Marathon where players load into a map and complete objectives for an active contract while contesting extraction zones to escape with their loot. According to Insider Gaming, the internal description for the mode is as follows:

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.

That’s seemingly the most detail we’ve gotten yet about what Fairgames actually entails. The original PlayStation Blog post about the game made vague mention of “a new type of PvP game with emergent sandbox gameplay” that “rewards creativity and mastery and delivers surprising stories each and every time you play.” That could take lots of different forms, but one of them is certainly something very similar to how Marathon functions.

Comparisons to extraction shooters, an increasingly bloated genre, will only raise concerns about Fairgames‘ viability as Marathon struggles to gain popularity and Sony seemingly bails on the rest of its live-service ambitions. There was a sense among fans that Haven, the studio behind it which Sony acquired back in 2022, would be one of the victims of recent cost-cutting measures alongside teams like Bluepoint Games and Dark Outlaw Games.

The game was reportedly delayed last year around the time studio head Jade Raymond departed. Game director Daniel Drapeau announced his own departure just a few months later. In the meantime, Fairgames marches on. The studio recently posted job listings for a lead producer and other roles.