Highguard Developers Had a Blind Spot to Feedback Despite Rigorous Testing

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Even though Highguard was prominently shown at the 2025 Game Awards, it didn’t capture the public’s interest.

Live service games have been struggling lately, with many facing difficulties this year – unless you’re Arc Raiders. It’s possible players are tired of this type of game, or maybe the game just felt unfinished, even though it didn’t go through a traditional Early Access period.

Highguard had all the right ingredients for success. Its developer, Wildlight Entertainment, was made up of experienced people from popular games like Apex Legends and Titanfall. Given that those games are so well-loved, it seemed likely players would enjoy Highguard, which aimed for a similar look and feel.

Well, it’s really sad to say, but Highguard is closing down. I was actually pretty excited about it when I first saw it – it looked really promising and there was a lot of hype at the beginning. Unfortunately, that initial excitement didn’t last, and players just… moved on. Apparently, the developers at Wildlight didn’t quite see that coming, according to something I read recently.

Highguard Had Extensive NDA Testing, But Still Had Blind Spots

Josh Sobel, who used to work as a tech artist and rigger at Highguard, has shared his thoughts on what led to the studio’s closure.

He has since expressed regret about his original comments, but brought up a good point:

Online, players often point out that developers sometimes blame the community when a game doesn’t succeed, which feels unfair. It’s easy to think players have no influence, but they actually have a lot. I’m not saying player negativity was the only reason Highguard didn’t thrive, or that it would have been a success without any criticism. However, it definitely contributed. Ultimately, a product’s success depends on its audience, and in this case, players dedicated a significant amount of energy to speaking negatively about Highguard – and it had a real impact.

It’s understandable why people quickly dismissed Highguard after its announcement, and it’s easy to assume the game never had a fair chance because of the immediate negative reaction online. However, Wildlight didn’t anticipate this, as Sobel notes, due to the harsh criticism they received even from players who signed non-disclosure agreements.

He insists it’s untrue that the Wildlight team just congratulated themselves on making a good game. They actually took the game apart, constantly giving each other tough feedback and criticism during development. However, even with all that internal review, the player feedback after launch was unexpected.

Unlike games like ARC Raiders and Marathon, Highguard didn’t have a big public test phase, often called a ‘Server Slam,’ before it launched. While they did test with internal teams and a limited number of external testers under non-disclosure agreements, those groups weren’t large enough to catch all the issues before the game was released.

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Would releasing Highguard as a public test or in Early Access have helped? It’s possible, but considering Wildlight’s reported financial and time constraints, it’s doubtful that would have been enough.

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2026-03-12 19:39