All articles tagged with #wildlight entertainment
Wildlight Entertainment, the studio behind the shooter Highguard, appears likely to close after a rocky launch that saw concurrent players crater and Tencent withdraw funding; the studio’s website and LinkedIn vanished, servers shut down on March 12, and co-founder Chad Grenier indicated there may be no future for Wildlight, suggesting the company is winding down after founding in 2021.
Wildlight Entertainment is reportedly issuing PS5 refunds for Highguard as the studio shutters its doors, with Sony emails indicating money spent on the game's battle pass and skins is being returned; it’s unclear if refunds extend to other platforms or all players, and the game’s brief run came after layoffs and a rushed launch that may have spurred funding concerns and the studio’s eventual disappearance.
Highguard, a free-to-play multiplayer shooter from Wildlight Entertainment, has been delisted on PS5 and shut down just 45 days after its January 26 launch, with the studio citing a lack of sustained player interest in the brutal live-service market.
The Highguard technical artist Josh Sobel returned to X/Twitter after a month offline to apologise for a misdirected outburst about Highguard’s troubled launch, saying his comments were driven by stress and sleepless nights and not his true intent. Wildlight Entertainment’s hero shooter faced design missteps and online vitriol and is set to disappear within weeks of launch, with a final content patch released as the studio winds down.
Wildlight’s remaining staff pushed Highguard’s largest update just days before servers go offline, adding an XP-based progression, a new skill tree, a tank hero Koldo, and the Switchback rifle, as the studio braces layoffs and online backlash.
Wildlight Entertainment’s free-to-play hero shooter Highguard will permanently shut down, with servers halting on March 12, just weeks after its January release. The studio, whose team includes veterans from Call of Duty, Apex Legends and Titanfall, laid off staff two weeks after launch as player numbers dwindled—from near 100k PC players and 380k Twitch viewers at launch to a fraction of that later—leading to the decision despite prior plans for a year’s worth of updates. The developers thanked players and invited one final round of matches before the shutdown.
A Bloomberg report cites former Wildlight staff blaming Highguard’s failure on leadership hubris after Apex Legends’ success, funding pressures tied to performance metrics, and a rushed, secret launch; the project was scaled back from an overambitious scope, testing suggested it required voice chat, and management avoided community testing; mid-February layoffs left fewer than 20 developers, threatening the live-service plan, even as a new mode released.
Wildlight’s PvP shooter Highguard releases a new content patch (airship base, lockpick raid, Moonbruin mount) while the game’s website remains offline. Despite layoffs and a troubled launch, developers say the outage is a 'low priority' reputational issue and that a core team will continue to support updates and content.
Wildlight Entertainment says Highguard’s site is down to be transferred and simplified, a low-priority task for a lean team focused on delivering updates after recent layoffs, with Tencent as an investor; the game remains playable but Steam numbers are weak and there’s no announced return date for the site.
After mass layoffs at Wildlight and a downed Highguard website, the game's future remains unclear, but remaining developers say they are focusing on updates and new content, with Episode 2 and the roadmap likely undergoing a major overhaul.
Highguard, a raid-shooter from Wildlight Entertainment, faces an uncertain future after layoffs and a site outage that sparked cancellation rumors; the game launched Jan 26 after The Game Awards 2025 trailer, drew over 1.5 million players in January with peaks around 97,000 concurrent players, but numbers have fallen as development continues with a leaner team and little official communication.
Kotaku reports that Wildlight Entertainment’s four-year development of the free-to-play shooter Highguard may have been backed primarily by Tencent’s TiMi, a relationship the studio has kept private. Following mass layoffs and a steep drop in concurrent PC players, questions swirl about Highguard’s future as Wildlight’s site goes offline and roadmap details remain unclear.
Kotaku reports that Wildlight Entertainment’s free-to-play raid shooter Highguard has its official site down, fueling speculation about the game’s future after a controversial launch, a steep early drop in Steam players, mixed updates, and subsequent layoffs at the studio.
After Highguard's launch woes and mass layoffs at Wildlight following its Game Awards reveal, industry voices argue Geoff Keighley isn’t to blame for the game’s troubles, pointing to broader economic instability in the industry. Keighley defended giving Highguard exposure, while critics noted issues like the map size and early PC server problems; remaining Wildlight staff face uncertainty about delivering the 2026 content calendar amid the layoffs.
A former Wildlight developer recounts Highguard’s rocky launch after its Game Awards reveal, saying false assumptions about a large ad placement fueled immediate hate and massive review bombs. Despite post-launch patches and a permanent 5v5 mode, the studio announced layoffs including several co-founders, though a core group remains to continue development.