The situation with the game Highguard is rapidly worsening. Developer Wildlight Entertainment announced job cuts and layoffs only two weeks after its release, highlighting how unstable the market for online games has become.
What initially looked like a promising new co-op shooter has quickly become an example of what can go wrong.
Looking at the game’s sales and other performance data makes the studio’s choice seem much more understandable.
Player Counts Collapse After Early Curiosity Spike
Similar to other games designed for ongoing play, Highguard launched with a lot of marketing and attention from the gaming community.
The game received a lot of attention leading up to its release, including a prominent showing at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards. This generated both excitement and close examination when it finally launched.
I remember being so excited when the game first launched, and it was incredible to see over 97,000 people playing at the same time! Sadly, that initial rush didn’t last, and the number of players quickly fell to under 10,000 within just a few days. It was a real disappointment to see.
Fast forward to today, just two weeks later, and there are only 2,083 concurrent players on Steam.
Considering this game heavily relies on players teaming up and finding matches, that significant decrease in players is really worrying.
Games that are constantly updated rely on having lots of players online. If the number of players drops too low, it creates problems: finding matches takes longer, the matchmaking system struggles, and players start leaving, making the situation even worse and hard to fix.
In short: population collapse can kill a live-service game faster than almost anything else.
Wildlight Confirms Staff Cuts
After developers began sharing news online, Wildlight Entertainment officially confirmed that they had conducted layoffs.
Today, we made the very difficult decision to reduce our team size. While some talented people are leaving, we’re maintaining a core group of developers who will continue to improve and support the game.
We’re proud of the team, talent, and the product we’ve created together. We’re also grateful…
— Wildlight Entertainment (@WildlightEnt) February 12, 2026
The studio announced today that they’ve made the tough decision to lay off some employees, but will retain a core team of developers to keep working on and supporting the game.
The company did not disclose how many employees were affected.
Staff posts indicated the layoffs were substantial, and many team members were affected.
Wildlight plans to keep supporting the game, but with a smaller team internally. It’s currently uncertain what this will look like in the future.
Live-Service Roadmap Now In Question
News of layoffs at Highguard is causing worry about what plans the developers have for the game after its initial release.
Live-service shooters typically rely on aggressive content pipelines, including:
- Seasonal expansions
- Balance updates
- New raids and maps
- Cosmetic monetization drops
All of those require staffing bandwidth.
Now that the team is smaller, players are starting to question if the content that was previously announced will still be released, or if plans will need to be significantly reduced.
History suggests the latter is often the case.
From Showcase Darling To Industry Warning Sign
What makes Highguard’s situation notable is how quickly the perception shift occurred.
Before the game even came out, the marketing really made it seem like it was going to revolutionize the genre. But honestly, once people actually started playing, the excitement died down pretty quickly. It just didn’t live up to the hype, which was a real shame.
Common criticisms included:
- Overly complex gameplay systems
- Lack of long-term progression hooks
- Genre fatigue in the co-op shooter space
As a film buff who keeps up with how streaming works, I’ve noticed a really crucial thing: keeping viewers hooked is everything. That particular mix of choices they made? It absolutely crushed their ability to retain subscribers, and honestly, keeping people subscribed is the most important factor for any streaming service that wants to survive long-term.
Curiosity may drive installs, but only engagement drives survival.
A Growing Pattern Across The Industry
It’s really disheartening to hear about the Highguard layoffs, and it feels like it’s part of a bigger problem. From what I understand, making games that are constantly updated and rely on players spending money over time is just a really risky business, and this is a reflection of that.
Studios are increasingly betting on:
- Free-to-play monetization models
- Seasonal engagement loops
- Cosmetic economies
- Long-tail retention projections
When those bets pay off, studios scale rapidly.
When they don’t, layoffs often follow — sometimes within weeks of release rather than years.
The margin for error has never been thinner.
The Road Ahead For Highguard
For now, Highguard remains live, and Wildlight insists ongoing support will continue.
With fewer people playing and staff layoffs happening, the game’s future looks uncertain.
The remaining developers face a steep challenge:
Look, as a player, I’m really hoping they keep this game going! So many live service games launch with promise but then just… fizzle out. It feels like they have to find ways to keep us hooked, or this could end up another one lost to the void. I’d hate to see that happen!
Read More
- Adolescence’s Co-Creator Is Making A Lord Of The Flies Show. Everything We Know About The Book-To-Screen Adaptation
- The Batman 2 Villain Update Backs Up DC Movie Rumor
- Will there be a Wicked 3? Wicked for Good stars have conflicting opinions
- My Favorite Coen Brothers Movie Is Probably Their Most Overlooked, And It’s The Only One That Has Won The Palme d’Or!
- Games of December 2025. We end the year with two Japanese gems and an old-school platformer
- Decoding Cause and Effect: AI Predicts Traffic with Human-Like Reasoning
- World of Warcraft Decor Treasure Hunt riddle answers & locations
- Crypto prices today (18 Nov): BTC breaks $90K floor, ETH, SOL, XRP bleed as liquidations top $1B
- Travis And Jason Kelce Revealed Where The Life Of A Showgirl Ended Up In Their Spotify Wrapped (And They Kept It 100)
- First Look at Nicolas Cage, Bill Skarsgard in Lord of War Sequel
2026-02-12 19:59