In
surprising
news,
Sony
has
confirmed
that
Jade
Raymond,
founder
of
first-party
PlayStation
studio
Haven,
has
apparently
left
the
company.
Coincidentally,
or
perhaps
not,
the
studios
upcoming
title
Fairgames
is
reported
to
have
tested
poorly
just
weeks
before
Raymond
left.

Word
of
Raymond’s
departure
was
broken
by
the
prince
of
gaming
journalism,
Mr.
Jason
Schreier
of
Bloomberg.
Sony
issued
a
statement
shortly
after
confirming
the
situation.

“Jade
Raymond
has
been
an
incredible
partner
and
visionary
force
in
founding
Haven
Studios,”

PlayStation
said.
“We
are
deeply
grateful
for
her
leadership
and
contributions,
and
we
wish
her
all
the
best
in
her
next
chapter.”

Marie-Eve
Danis
and
Pierre-François
Sapinski
have
been
named
as
Haven’s
new
co-heads
moving
forward.

Haven
was
founded
in
2021
after
Raymond
left
Google
Stadia.
Sony
was
revealed
to
be
funding
the
team’s
first
project,
which
was
later
revealed
in
2023
to
be
a
new
live-service
game
titled
Fairgames.
Sony
then
bought
Haven
in
2022
for
an
undisclosed
price.

In
his
article,
Jason
notes
that
while
no
specific
reason
was
given
for
Raymond’s
exit,
Fairgames
(which
is
apparently
dropping
the
$
at
the
end
of
its
name)
went
through
a
round
of
external
testing
a
few
weeks
ago.
According
to
Jason,
some
people
with
knowledge
of
the
situation
told
him
that
some
developers
were
“concerned
with
how
the
game
was
received
and
its
progress”.

It’s
unclear
whether
this
external
test
has
anything
to
do
with
Raymond’s
decision
to
leave
Haven
and
whether
it
was
actually
her
decision
and
not
a
mandate
from
Sony
directly.

Fairgames
was
reportedly
going
to
launch
this
year,
but
the
Bloomberg
article
claims
it
has
been
pushed
back
until
next
Spring.

Raymond
is
one
of
the
industry’s
most
recognisable
names,
rising
to
prominence
with
her
producer
role
on
the
original
Assassin’s
Creed
and
then
working
on
multiple
other
entries
in
the
series.
Other
credits
include
Managing
Director
on
Far
Cry
4,
working
on
Star
Wars:
Battlefront
2
and
her
stint
at
Stadia.
Arguably,
though,
Raymond
hasn’t
worked
on
anything
big
or
truly
exciting
in
a
long
time.
Fairgames
was
seemingly
going
to
be
her
big
return,
which
is
why
it’s
surprising
that
she
has
stepped
away
from
the
company
she
helped
create
with
five
other
people.

So
let’s
speculate
a
little.
It
could
be
that
under
Sony’s
purview,
Fairgames
is
shaping
up
differently
than
Raymond
had
envisioned.
While
she
was
CEO,
Sony
is
the
one
with
the
money
and
who
ultimately
has
full
say
on
how
Fairgames
is
made.
This
is
the
theory
that
makes
the
most
sense
to
me,
personally,
as
it’s
highly
unusual
to
see
a
CEO
step
away
from
a
company
they
founded
and
before
their
first
project
even
gets
released.

It
could
also
be
due
to
Sony’s
push
toward
live-service
and
subsequent
failures.
Sony
would
be
crazy
not
to
at
least
attempt
to
enter
the
live-service
space,
and
has
found
success
with
Helldivers
2,
but

Concord
was
a
massive
disaster,
and
they’ve
already

cancelled
most
of
their
other
live-service
projects.
Indeed,
Fairgames
is
one
of
the
few
remaining.