The Highguard found itself prominently in online video game talk back in mid-December Game Awards Showwhile host Geoff Keighley made a special introduction to the game’s trailer, which arrived very late in the show, timed for some of the biggest revelations of the night. The next day, there were questions about what this free-to-play multiplayer shooter from the new studio was. Now, less than two months after its release, Highguard is closing.
Developer Wildlight Entertainment posted on X about the closure of Highguard on Tuesday. The developer says it couldn’t get the player base it needed to keep the game going, and will shut down the servers on March 12.
“Despite the motivation and hard work of our team, we have not been able to build a stable player base to support the game for a long time,” said the studio. “The servers will remain online until March 12th. We hope you’ll join us again to show your support and catch those last great matches while you still can.”
In his own Highguard reviewDavid Lumb of CNET described the game as a first-person shooter that had the meandering combat found in multiplayer online battle arena games and the basic attack mechanics found in titles like Rainbow Six: Siege. The developers described this new integration as an “assault shooter.” Wildlight has admitted that the game’s premiere at the Game Awards did not represent the game properly.
When the game was released on Jan. 26, Highguard started strongly. About 100,000 people were playing the game on PC at launch, according to SteamDB. That number dropped sharply in the days that followed, and by the last week of February, it was down to just over 400 a day. Things looked bleak for Wildlight for most of February as the number of players dwindled. On February 11, members of the development team posted on LinkedIn about the layoff, and the game’s website went down on Feb. 17.
Highguard has incorporated several mechanics, including summoning mounts and shooting guns from a horse.
“Negative press stinks hard to get rid of,” Lumb said today. “If players decide to hate a game, they’re going to screw it up, especially if it doesn’t have years of running time like No Man’s Sky.”
On the r/games subreddit, in a thread about the announcement, posters shared their issues with the game. Some point to the outdated visuals, while others say the gameplay is confusing and needs a lot of refinement.
Former Wildlight developers told Bloomberg on Feb. 26 that they feel it was the “hubris” of the studio’s leadership that led to the game’s demise. The studio is made up of former members of the team that developed Titanfall, Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends, and they had no idea how the gaming landscape had changed since those games were released.
Wildlight says it intends to continue updating the game. The final update will be available sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, and will include a new character, new weapon, account level progression and skill trees.
