Wildlight Entertainment will shut down servers for its free-to-play multiplayer raid shooter Highguard on March 12, 2026—45 days after launch—citing insufficient revenue and failure to sustain a player base despite over 2 million users, a peak of nearly 100,000 concurrent players, and post-launch updates. A final content update is planned before closure.
Highguard, a 3v3 raid shooter blending lane-skirmish MOBA elements and base-raiding from former Titanfall and Apex Legends developers at Wildlight Entertainment, was revealed via trailer at The Game Awards 2025 by host Geoff Keighley and launched January 26, 2026, on PC (Steam), PlayStation, and Xbox.
It drew strong initial interest with nearly 100,000 peak concurrent Steam players but saw a rapid decline to around 400 daily active users by late February, per SteamDB. Early challenges included layoffs announced February 11, the game's website going offline February 17, and reports of Tencent withdrawing funding just two weeks post-launch.
On March 3, Wildlight announced the closure on social media and blog: "Despite the passion... we have not been able to build a sustainable player base." Game director Chad Grenier emphasized revenue shortfalls preventing further employment, while noting positives like average 91-minute sessions, 3.48 matches per session, PlayStation as top platform, Scarlet as favorite character, and 92% training completion rate.
Post-launch patches addressed crashes, added a permanent 5v5 mode, and made other tweaks but couldn't reverse engagement drops amid player complaints about map sizes, 3v3 format, dated visuals, and confusing mechanics (r/games subreddit). Critics like CNET's David Lumb highlighted persistent negative press, while former developers told Bloomberg leadership 'hubris' underestimated market shifts. TechRadar noted the 'era of two-month lifespan shooters,' outlasting Concord's 14-day run.
Servers remain online until March 12 for final matches. An upcoming update adds a new Warden character, weapon, account progression, and skill trees. No microtransaction refunds confirmed.
