Sony’s obsession with service-oriented games in recent years has reached a point where you can’t even accept it. The stand-alone masterpiece was doing well, but the top management turned around and said, “Let’s see how we run ten more Live-Service games.” Now the latest news points out that the new PlayStation game “Fairgames” is rumored to include Extraction Mode, becoming another Sony multiplayer title that has entered a popular battlefield.
Seeing others making money, Sony decided to get a piece of the pie.
“Fairgames” is not a pure escape FPS, but it has a strong flavor
According to internal documents obtained by foreign media, “Fairgames” will include a mode called “Cargo Heist”. The core of the gameplay is that players form a team to find the password to the vault, break into the vault, remove funds and materials, and then escort the loot to the extraction point, waiting for the driver to pick up and escape.
Everyone should understand after seeing this.
Although the official classification may still say that it is a “robbery cooperative game”, at its core it is already a standard evacuation gameplay formula. Search for resources first, then take them out with high risk, and may be intercepted on the way. This kind of tension is the favorite routine in the current market.
After seeing “ARC Raiders” become popular, of course I won’t sit down and watch it
The evacuation shooting genre has begun to heat up rapidly in recent years. “Escape From Tarkov” laid the hardcore foundation, “Hunt: Showdown 1896” established a specialty market, and after the recent explosion of popularity of “ARC Raiders”, the entire industry began to re-evaluate the commercial value of this type of game.
Sony just launched “Marathon” last month, and now it is rumored that “Fairgames” will also plant its flag. It can only be said that the top management now looks at everything like a long-term revenue model.
Development rumors have not been going well, and now the pressure is even greater
In fact, since “Fairgames” was released, it has been rumored that the development progress is unstable, and the internal test response is not ideal. Coupled with the departure of Haven Interactive Studios founder Jade Raymond from the company last year, outsiders’ confidence in the project has naturally been affected.
Sony is of course still investing, but the market won’t automatically succeed just because you throw money at it.
Looking at the tragic situation of “Concord” and the direct cancellation of “The Last of Us Online”, Sony’s service-oriented plans have not been smooth sailing in recent years. What really holds up the facade is “Helldivers 2”.
Free may be the only correct answer
Current news points out that “Fairgames” is expected to adopt a free-to-play model. This is actually very reasonable, because the lower the threshold of the current multi-player market, the easier it is to get the first wave of people.
If you still want to sell it at full price, add Battle Pass, and add the mall, then players will most likely go back to play free games.
Sony has paid a lot of tuition in recent years, and it should know where not to make mistakes this time.
Sony’s service-oriented game ambitions haven’t stopped yet, but players’ patience is limited
Sony wants to build a second revenue line, no problem. The problem is that after entering 2026, players have become increasingly picky about service-based games.
Without content update speed, social popularity, and unique gameplay, no matter how big a brand it is, no one will remember it after a month.
If “Fairgames” is just another follow-up escape game, the result may not be too pretty. But if it can really bring new ideas to robbery, teamwork, and strategic evacuation, it might still have a chance to make a comeback.