Jade Raymond has set off on her own path. She is no longer the head of Haven Studios
The producer of the first Assassin’s Creed continues to face setbacks.
Photo: Bloomberg
What happened?
Jade Raymond, the founder and head of Sony-owned game developer Haven Studios, has left the company.
“She was an incredible partner and visionary in building Haven Studios. We are very grateful for her leadership and contributions. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors,” stated PlayStation’s press release.
Was she fired or did she leave on her own?
It is unknown.
Jason Schreier from Bloomberg writes that Raymond left the company several weeks after the external tests of the online shooter Fairgames, which her studio was developing.
“Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and the progress of its development,” writes Schreier, citing his own sources.
What is important to keep in mind?
Fairgames is one of many live-service projects Sony had previously launched into production.
Recall, the corporation had plans to release a dozen such games. However, this course was partly adjusted after the retirement of PlayStation boss Jim Ryan in 2023, who was one of the proponents of the live-service direction.
The new leadership of Sony’s gaming division first reduced the number of live-service games planned for release. Then the multiplayer project for The Last of Us was among those cut.
Then came the notorious failure of Concord. It likely was one of the events leading to the cancellation of several more live-service games in January. One of the games that ceased development was the live-service God of War.
It seems Fairgames, whose release was postponed three months ago from fall 2025 to spring 2026, might have also been at risk. Instead of closing the project, Sony appears to have decided to involve another manager in the project, and parted ways with Raymond.
Who is Jade Raymond?
Jade Raymond started her career in the 90s as a programmer at Sony. There, she helped create the first R&D group for the company's online division. After that, Raymond worked as a producer on The Sims Online at Electronic Arts.
She gained global fame when she led the development of the first Assassin’s Creed as a producer. At Ubisoft, Raymond also helped launch the first Watch Dogs and worked as a managing director on several other projects, including Assassin’s Creed Unity and Far Cry 4.
A wave of misfortunes began to follow her career thereafter.
In 2015, Raymond founded the Motive Studio within EA and worked with Visceral Games on a subsequently canceled Star Wars game. In 2019, she became vice-president of Google and led the Stadia gaming division. However, following the closure of its internal development studios, Raymond left the company and launched Haven Studios in 2021. That same year, it was acquired by Sony.
Now, it seems she is being ousted from her own studio. Hence, it turns out she hasn’t released a single game since 2014.
What is the Fairgames project?
Details about the new game are scarce. All that can be found online is a brief description and CG trailers. There are currently no gameplay videos or even screenshots available for public access.
Based on available information, it is an extraction shooter where teams of three players compete against each other to steal valuable items from the homes of the wealthy.