{"id":548992,"date":"2026-04-24T21:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548992\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T21:57:11","slug":"ps5-live-service-fairgames-reportedly-roasted-in-recent-pre-alpha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548992\/","title":{"rendered":"PS5 Live Service Fairgames Reportedly Roasted in Recent Pre-Alpha"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PS5<\/a><\/p>\n

At this point, we\u2019re not sure Haven Studios can ever turn around the negative sentiment that\u2019s stuck to Fairgames<\/a> ever since it was revealed in 2023.<\/p>\n

The title got a worse reception than Concord<\/a>, which would go on to release and subsequently be shut down within weeks. And yet, the project somehow persists.<\/p>\n

We know the Canadian developer recently hosted a pre-alpha test<\/a> for the free-to-play shooter named \u2018Espresso\u2019, which was only available to select players under the conditions of a strict NDA.<\/p>\n

But unsurprisingly, information is filtering out of the hands-on, and Insider Gaming\u2019s<\/a> ever-reliable Tom Henderson has the scoop.<\/p>\n

He claims to have seen gameplay, as well as screenshots of the title\u2019s Discord, where players were encouraged to send their thoughts and feedback.<\/p>\n

The latter is overwhelmingly negative, apparently, with many criticising key aspects like movement, the class system, and more.<\/p>\n

According to Henderson, the release\u2019s visual style has been toned down from its reveal trailer, and it\u2019s now grittier and less colourful, resembling something like Call of Duty<\/a> or The Division<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still talk of this being an extraction shooter<\/a> where your objective is to break into a vault, steal the cash inside, and get away \u2013 although there will be respawns.<\/p>\n

Players are divided into four teams of three, so it sounds like everyone is competing to get the loot.<\/p>\n

(We\u2019ve no idea how that feeds into the Robin Hood aspect, by the way, and why these gangs would kill each other if they\u2019re all working towards a common goal.)<\/p>\n

Obviously it\u2019s worth noting that the entire point of tests like this is to accumulate feedback, so the negativity isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing if the team is listening. Its goal with an alpha like this will be to improve the overall experience.<\/p>\n

But Henderson cites several sources who said they felt the game was boring. It\u2019s not exactly a glowing endorsement, is it?<\/p>\n

The problem is, with Sony\u2019s live service strategy already under intense scrutiny, Fairgames needs to be exceptional \u2013 perhaps even more than that, considering how negatively the reveal trailer was received.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want to see studios shut down and people put out of work, but we genuinely don\u2019t see a path to success for this project.<\/p>\n

The platform holder, at least so far, appears to disagree.<\/p>\n

[source insider-gaming.com<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\tRelated Games<\/p>\n

\tSee Also<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this point, we\u2019re not sure Haven Studios can ever turn around the negative sentiment that\u2019s stuck to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36904,59,112,622,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-548992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-fairgames","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-ps5","11":"tag-sony","12":"tag-technology","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}