Wildlight Entertainment has announced that it’s shutting down Highguard just 45 days after its launch. How did a new game from the creators of Apex Legends fall apart so quickly? Here is everything that went wrong with Highguard, and how The Game Awards reveal quickly became the next Concord.
Highguard Shutdown Timeline – How the Game Collapsed in 45 Days
In a March 3 post on X, Wildlight Entertainment announced that they were permanently shutting down Highguard after failing to “sustain enough players” for it. The news was surprising, given that just over 2 months ago, the multiplayer title was featured as the final reveal at The Game Awards 2025.
The game’s quick closure immediately drew comparisons to Sony’s failed hero shooter Concord, which shut down just two weeks after it launched in 2024. How did a project developed by one of the most talented teams in the industry fail this quickly? We are going to take a look back at the timeline of events that led to Highguard shutting down.
Highguard’s Game Awards Reveal Sparked Immediate Backlash
Most of the controversy surrounding Highguard can be traced back to The Game Awards on December 11, 2025. As the awards show was about to come to a close, host Geoff Keighley announced the usual “one more surprise” reveal. After a lengthy monologue hyping up the secret project, Keighley unveiled Highguard for the first time to the gaming masses.
The only problem is, the announcement completely fell flat. Instead of being a successful showcase for Highguard, the reveal ended up becoming the catalyst for intense online backlash. You see, many players were disappointed in The Game Awards’ “final reveal” and didn’t believe Highguard was a good enough of a surprise. Instead, fans of the show expected a major IP like Elden Ring or Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic.
Immediately after The Game Awards ended, the entire narrative overshadowing the show was its “disappointing final reveal.” However, this disappointment soon transformed into mockery of Highguard, as players turned their anger toward the game itself. Even though none of this was Wildlight Entertainment’s fault, the new multiplayer became “uncool” in the eyes of many gamers and became a constant punching bag on social media.
Wildlight Entertainment Goes Silent After Game Awards Controversy
After facing a growing mountain of backlash, Wildlight Entertainment unsurprisingly went silent following the controversial Game Awards reveal. I mean, can you entirely blame them? By early January, Highguard had practically become a mainstream meme, with a level of mean-spiritedness surrounding it that was overwhelming.
However, because of this silence, many players had forgotten that the game was even launching. So when Wildlight Entertainment reappeared on social media in late January and revealed that Highguard would release on January 26, 2026, it took many by surprise. Because there was no marketing in the lead-up, hype for the game was in a weird place in terms of player awareness and anticipation.
Highguard Launches – But Steam Player Numbers Quickly Collapse
Highguard officially launched on January 26, 2026, and initially was off to a respectable start. Within the first hour, it peaked at 97,249 active players on Steam, according to SteamDB. However, things quickly took a turn for the worse as that player count not only failed to rise, but quickly started to plummet just a few hours after it went live. What went wrong?
Many players jumping into the game for the first time weren’t loving it. Some of the major complaints from players included:
- The map was too big and empty for a 3v3 mode.
- Matches had long stretches without any action.
- Lack of skill tree and meaningful player progression.
- Performance issues on PC.
- Character designs are “bland” for a hero shooter.
- In-game currency is too expensive.
- Important Game Chat & Party features were missing.
So while it’s true Highguard had a lot of unnecessary hate going into its launch, it’s also true that the game didn’t immediately click with many players who tired it out at launch.,
Mass Layoffs Hit Highguard’s Development Team Just Weeks After Launch
The first sign that something was seriously wrong was when it was revealed on February 11, 2026, that Wildlight Entertainment was hit with mass layoffs just two weeks after Highguard launched. Even more shocking, it was a vast majority of the game’s development team. Reports claimed that only a skeleton crew remained behind to work on patches.
At this point, Highguard’s Steam player numbers had all but completely collapsed. On the day the layoffs were announced, the multiplayer only managed to net 3,123 active players on the PC platform. While we didn’t know its console numbers, it was now apparent to many that the game was in a dire situation.
Wildlight Announces Highguard Will Shut Down on March 12
All of this brings us to today, when Wildlight Entertainment announced that it was permanently shutting down Highguard on March 12, 2026. The studio made the shocking announcement in a lengthy post on X, thanking users who played the multiplayer. According to the studio, the decision was made as a result of failing to maintain enough players to keep the title going.
Surprisingly, Wildlight Entertainment also announced that they were releasing a new patch despite the game being taken offline in just 9 days. The game’s closure immediately sparked a debate in the industry, with many searching for answers as to why it failed. How did Highguard become Concord 2.0?
Why Did Highguard Fail So Quickly?
Some want to blame Geoff Keighley and The Game Awards 2025 final reveal for Highguard’s failure. Afterall, at this point, it’s undeniable that the surprise reveal was the main reason the game had garnered so much online hate before its launch. There were players that genuinely couldn’t separate their disappointment with The Game Awards final reveal and redirected it toward the multiplayer.
But I think it’s a bit short-sighted to solely place the blame on TGA. After all, Highguard might have seen even lower launch numbers if it had never been shown off by Keighley. One could argue that the new IP had as many eyes on it as it did because of the major spotlight it received. But then again, these are all “what ifs,” and it’s something we’ll never know.
However, it’s also true that many players did try out Highguard at launch and didn’t love it. Now, you could argue that the negative sentiment around it might have tainted player experiences. But I truly believe that if Highguard was a masterpiece, it would have hooked players after a few hours of gameplay. Instead, the users who did give it a fair shake quickly bounced off the multiplayer just hours after it went live.
Personally, I believe that it’s just becoming harder and harder to release new games in 2026. Players have never had so many games to choose from and not enough time to play them. As a result, people really expect a game to be absolutely perfect, or else it’s not worth sticking with.
But I also think Wildlight Entertainment had an unfair uphill battle against online negativity in the lead-up to its release. Regardless of what the answer to all of this is, Highguard is shutting down just 45 days after launch. This is an unfortunate turn for any new studio or debut IP.
The post How Highguard Became Gaming’s Next Concord in Just 45 Days appeared first on VICE.
