Today, American video game studio Wildlight Entertainment has announced that its hero shooter Highguard will be permanently shutting down and receiving its final update on March 12th. Despite having nearly a year of planned content, the decision comes from the game's remarkably poor playercount (peaked at 97,249 and has fallen to 335 as of March 3rd) as a failure 'to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term.'
Highguard has been frought with widespread criticism for the duration of its lifespan, from its highly divisive and underwhelming 'grand reveal' at The Game Awards in December to its lackluster gameplay, performance issues, and kernel-level anti-cheat. Shortly after launch, Wildlight suffered massive layoffs due to the game's turbulent launch, with many former devs blaming 'toxic gamers' for the game's failure. Additionally, it was revealed that Tencent had financially supported Highguard's development and pulled funding as soon as it flopped, accelerating the collapse and revealing that Wildlight had effectively pretended to be an indie studio.
Highguard lasted only 37 days post-launch, outliving Concord by 23. All 7 of its fans are devastated.
Source:
https://x.com/PlayHighguard/status/2028923492125819287
