Fairgames resurfaces as Project Espresso with first gameplay footage and a private playtest

PlayStation's long-dormant online heist game Fairgames has quietly resurfaced under the codename Project Espresso, complete with a gameplay trailer and an open invitation to sign up for a private playtest on Player.gg.

The listing appeared on Player.gg — a platform that connects developers with playtesters — without any official studio attribution, but the evidence points squarely at Fairgames. The gameplay trailer shares the same art style and competitive heist concept shown at the game's original announcement three years ago, the listing confirms development for PS5 and PC, and players are required to link a PlayStation account to participate — something that would be unusual for a third-party title. Earlier this year PlayStation also filed a trademark for a game called Break In, which some observers suspected was a rebrand of Fairgames. IGN has reached out to PlayStation for comment. A tweet from account Radec refers to the game as both Fairgames and Break In, suggesting the trademark may indeed be the new title.

Fairgames has had a rough road since its 2023 announcement. Studio founder Jade Raymond and creative director Daniel Drapeau both departed after staff raised concerns following negative internal playtests, and PlayStation has said almost nothing publicly about the project since. The silence has done little to inspire confidence, especially given the state of PlayStation's live-service ambitions more broadly — Concord was a high-profile commercial disaster, Marathon has struggled to generate enthusiasm, The Last of Us Online was cancelled outright, and Destiny 2 lost first-party support. Outside PlayStation's own stable, Highguard lasted less than two months. The live-service genre is in a rough spot with players right now, and PlayStation is carrying extra baggage: the company is also dealing with fallout over plans to end physical media support in 2028, the shutdown of Bluepoint, and the end of single-player PC support — plus the high-profile split with Hideo Kojima after PlayStation moved to cancel Physint.

Whether Project Espresso — or Break In, or Fairgames, whatever it ends up being called — can turn things around is genuinely unclear. The playtest invites suggest the team is actively seeking player feedback to shape the game, which is at least a healthier sign than continued silence. If you want in, sign-ups are live on Player.gg right now.