According to reports out of Bloomberg, Jade Raymond has departed Haven Studios, which she founded in 2021 and is still in the processing of developing Fairgames, the next great hope in PlayStation’s live-service strategy.
Raymond rose to prominence as a consumer-facing producer on franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs.
No specific reason was given to explain her departure, however the Bloomberg report cites sources who claim an external test of Fairgames took place within the last several weeks and that some developers were concerned about its reception.
Fairgames has quite a mountain to climb in terms of shouldering the load for the live-service direction PlayStation has taken this generation, which thus far has only really delivered with the outrageously successful Helldivers 2. Beyond that, we’ve seen cancellations of live-service games from both The Last of Us and Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Raymond’s most reception departure caps off a rather turbulent decade in the industry. She left Ubisoft after a long spell to found EA Motive, only to leave that team in 2018 for Google Stadia; and we all know how that went.
“Jade Raymond has been an incredible partner and visionary force in founding Haven Studios,” a PlayStation spokesperson told Bloomberg. “We are deeply grateful for her leadership and contributions, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
