Wildlight Entertainment has laid off the majority of its team working on the live-service shooter Highguard, just weeks after the game's release, but confirmed that a core group will continue supporting it. Former tech artist Josh Sobel highlighted the toxic online reaction that followed the game's reveal, including personal harassment and review bombing. The studio expressed pride in its work and gratitude to players who engaged with the game.
Wildlight Entertainment announced layoffs affecting most of its Highguard development team on February 12, 2026, less than a month after the free-to-play hero shooter's launch on consoles and PC. The studio confirmed to Eurogamer that Highguard will not shut down, with a "core group of developers" remaining to innovate and support the game. In a statement, Wildlight wrote: "Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game." The company added it is "proud of the team, talent, and the product" and grateful for players who tried the game.
Highguard, developed by former Titanfall and Apex Legends team members at the independent, self-published studio, was revealed at the 2025 Game Awards in December. It saw an initial player influx but faced criticism over elements like map size and its starting 3v3 format. Wildlight responded with updates, including making a 5v5 mode permanent. However, the game struggled with over 14,000 review bombs from users with less than an hour of playtime, many not completing the tutorial.
Josh Sobel, a former tech artist and rigger who worked on Highguard for 2.5 years, shared his experiences in a Twitter post titled “Reflecting On Shipping My First Game.” He described the reveal as one of the most exciting days of his life, but said the trailer sparked immediate hate, including personal attacks mocking his autism and Twitter activity. Sobel noted: “The hate started immediately... All of this was very emotionally taxing.” He acknowledged constructive criticism on marketing but blamed "false assumptions" and gamer culture for amplifying negativity, stating: “I’m not saying our failure is purely the fault of gamer culture... but it absolutely played a role.”
Other laid-off developers echoed the sentiment. Level designer Alex Graner wrote on LinkedIn: “Unfortunately, along with most of the team at Wildlight, I was laid off today." Community lead Alex Frostwolf added: “Highguard is the story of us: a group of talented, like-minded folks on an adventure into the unknown... we too will rise again."
Studio head Chad Grenier had previously told Polygon: “Whether it gets a thousand people or a hundred million people, it doesn’t matter. What matters most is that the game is loved by the people who played it.” Industry support came from 1047 Games, who stated: "No game is perfect on day one."
