Highguard developer Wildight Entertainment announces layoffs less than a month after release

A series of layoffs occurred. High guard Developer Wildlight Entertainment. This news came out less than a month later. High guard's controversial release puts the future of PvP raid shooters in a potentially dangerous spot.

Since it was revealed, High guard I was at the center of controversy. The game was revealed as “The Last Thing” at The Game Awards 2025, disappointing gamers disillusioned with live service titles. Despite the initial negative reaction, High guard It was released on January 26 and has peaked at 97,249 players on Steam, according to SteamDB data. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to the expectations of many gamers, with player numbers dropping precipitously after its initial release. The developers had big plans for the game after its release, but the release of that content is currently in doubt.

relevant

Highguard comparison shows how the Xbox Series X and Series S stack up.

A pair of videos cover Highguard's visuals and performance, showing the difference in quality between the two platforms on Xbox.

Developer Highguard announced his layoffs less than a month after the game's release.

On February 11, level designer Alex Graner revealed in a LinkedIn post that he had been fired from Wildlight Entertainment. In the message, they noted that “a majority of the team” had also been let go. Graner's news was officially confirmed via a tweet from Wildlight Entertainment shortly thereafter. The company's statement reads: “Today we made the very difficult decision to part ways with several team members while retaining our core group of developers to continue innovating and supporting the game.” The developer went on to say that he was “proud” of his team and the game they created. He also expressed his gratitude to the gamers who played with him. High guard And we plan to support this in the future.

This statement from Wildlight Entertainment reveals that the game will continue to be supported for the time being, but it remains to be seen what that will look like. The developer used the term “innovation,” which could imply that more new content may be on the way. But here's how layoffs will impact our 2026 roadmap: High guard Not yet known. It's worth noting that Graner suggested that much of the content he worked on may never see the light of day. “This is truly heartbreaking because there was a lot of unreleased content that I and others had designed that I was really looking forward to. High guard” they said when writing on LinkedIn.

For context, Wildlight Entertainment has plans for next year when it comes to new content. The schedule was ambitious, with a total of seven episodes scheduled to be released by December. The episode's content was expected to include new bases, guards, weapons, modes, and more to maintain. High guardThe gameplay is interesting. However, based on Graner's comments, some of this may not apply to the game after its disappointing launch.

Despite the negative reaction High guard Received at launch, the game won the hearts of some players. Undoubtedly, this is sad news for those who were hoping the game would become popular on platforms like Steam. As of this writing, the game only has 2,755 players on Valve platforms. The game isn't over yet, but it remains to be seen if they can find a way to attract players to a reduced team.