PlayStation's Fairgames Seemingly Remerges With First Gameplay, New Codename, and Private Playtest

PlayStation's online heist game, Fairgames, has seemingly re-appeared under a codename with first gameplay and invites to a playtest.

Three years ago, PlayStation announced a new online shooter known as Fairgames. It's a competitive heist game, which is a fairly unique concept on paper, but it has reportedly had all kinds of development troubles, including the departure of studio founder Jade Raymond and the game's creative director Daniel Drapeau. Their departures came after staff inside the studio began to express concerns for the game following negative internal playtests. The game has largely gone unacknowledged by PlayStation since its announcement, but development has marched on.

Now, the game has seemingly quitely reemerged under the codename Project Espresso. The game was added to Player.gg, a website that allows developers to connect with players for playtesting. Although the game is under a codename and the developer is being kept under wraps, the listing includes a pretty sizable gameplay trailer which looks strikingly similar to Fairgames. It has a similar art style and concept, and there's a disclaimer that the game is in development for PS5 and PC.

Looks like this is the first official look at gameplay for FAIRGAME$ aka Break In https://t.co/kuphMNor1Y pic.twitter.com/W5KE8nEO9b— Radec (@realradec) September 10, 2026

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Looks like this is the first official look at gameplay for FAIRGAME$ aka Break In https://t.co/kuphMNor1Y pic.twitter.com/W5KE8nEO9b

Additionally, the game requires a PlayStation account to be played, something that wouldn't normally happen for a third-party game. It's all a bit odd, but it's hard to imagine it being anything else. And if you're interested in checking it out for yourself, you can sign up for a playtest on Player.gg.

Earlier this year, PlayStation also filed a trademark for a new game known as Break In, which some suspected may be the new title for Fairgames. IGN has reached out to PlayStation for comment regarding the situation and will update the story if we hear anything.

Although Fairgames has been largely shrouded in secrecy, it hasn't stopped gamers from casting doubt on it. PlayStation's other big live-service offering, Concord, was a catastrophic bomb. Additionally, Marathon has failed to impress, The Last of Us Online was canceled, Destiny 2 is no longer being supported, and there's a general disdain for live-service games lately. Outside of PlayStation's first-party offerings, Highguard was meant to be another big live-service title, but was dead within two months.

Whether Fairgames (or whatever its final name ends up being) can buck trends and get people interested remains to be seen. It's an interesting time for Sony as it navigates nonstop chaos; last night, it was confirmed Hideo Kojima was parting ways with PlayStation after the platform planned to cancel Kojima's ambitious next-gen game, Physint. Xbox stepped in and offered to save it, strengthening the company's relationship with the auteur. Kojima is also developing a new horror game with Xbox known as OD.

PlayStation has also been in hot water with players after its decisions to kill support for physical media in 2028, shut down Bluepoint a few years after acquiring it, and end support for single-player games on PC. Another live-service bomb would be a big hit to PlayStation's PR right now, so hopefully these playtests can shape it into something appealing to a broad audience.