Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has dropped another bombshell in his latest Pachter Factor episode: Fairgame$ may have been canceled. The game, led by industry veteran Jade Raymond at Haven Studio, was announced as a competitive heist experience for PlayStation 5 and PC, but according to Pachter, Sony has already pulled the plug.
Pachter’s criticism goes beyond Fairgame$. 
He argues that Sony’s entire push into live service gaming has been mishandled. The company spent $3.6 billion acquiring Bungie, a studio best known for Halo and Destiny, yet Bungie generates only about $300 million annually-far less than mobile giants like Scopely or Niantic that actually dominate the live service model. Instead of doubling down on what Sony already does well-single-player console experiences-the company has been trying to turn its console teams into live service specialists. The result? Multiple high-profile failures: Concord shut down, The Last of Us Online abandoned, and now Fairgame$ reportedly scrapped.
Raymond’s departure from Haven was announced in May, initially framed as a delay for Fairgame$ into 2026. But Pachter claims that was just a smokescreen before the inevitable cancellation. If true, this would be another huge setback in Sony’s costly pursuit of live service dominance.
Players aren’t surprised. Many already mocked Fairgame$ after its first trailer, calling it generic and uninspired. Others point out that Sony seems intent on burning hundreds of millions chasing trends instead of nurturing the single-player hits that built its reputation. Rumors even swirl about more cancellations coming-possibly a Horizon MMO and other big projects-if Sony can’t course-correct.
Pachter didn’t hold back: “Sony has lost its way. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re bad managers. They should buy studios that know how to make live service games instead of forcing console developers into something they can’t do.”
Whether Sony admits it or not, the Fairgame$ situation has become a symbol of its troubled live service experiment-a gamble that may end up costing the company far more than it ever imagined.