Highguard, a free-to-play 3v3 raid shooter from former Apex Legends developers, debuted on January 26, 2026, across PC, PS5, and Xbox amid server overloads and performance glitches. The game quickly amassed over 9,000 Steam reviews, with more than 7,000 rated negative, citing slow gameplay and large maps unfit for the format. A false claim by streamer DrDisrespect about attending a preview event added to the launch's controversies.
Wildlight Entertainment, founded by ex-Respawn staff including Chad Grenier and Dusty Welch, released Highguard after a trailer at the 2025 Game Awards drew mixed reactions and weeks of silence. The studio, with about 100 employees—60% from Apex—aimed for a shadow drop like Apex Legends but accepted Geoff Keighley's offer for the closing slot, rushing a trailer that skipped gameplay details. "We always planned for a surprise release," Grenier told Kotaku at a January 21 preview in Los Angeles. "Geoff came in and wanted to do something special."
The preview event at an LA venue introduced Highguard as a PvP raid shooter inspired by Rust's base raids, distilled into 15- to 30-minute matches. Players select Wardens—heroes with abilities like ice walls or spirit grenades—vote on defensive Keeps, loot resources on mounts, capture the Shieldbreaker artifact, and raid enemy bases with escalating gear rarity. Hands-on sessions highlighted responsive gunplay and unique maps, such as the lava-suspended Hellmouth, though the complex loop required explanation.
Launch day brought 98,000 concurrent Steam players but overwhelmed servers, causing queues and disconnects. PC users reported frame rate drops even on high-end rigs like RTX 5070, missing dialogue in tutorials, and unchanged settings. Consoles lacked an FOV slider—echoing complaints about Borderlands 4—and appeared blurry. By evening, Steam showed 9,442 reviews with 7,230 negative ("Mostly Negative"), versus PlayStation's 3.34/5 from 2,000 ratings. Critics noted maps too vast for 3v3: "The maps in this game are way too big for 3v3; the size would fit better for 5v5 or 6v6," one reviewer posted. Others called looting stages empty and chaotic without innovation.
Bad-faith attacks labeled it "woke," but genuine feedback dominated. Separately, DrDisrespect posted a purported event badge on January 24, claiming a LA visit, but attendees like creator Macro and editor Kate Sánchez denied seeing him. Manager Chin Pua confirmed: he "was not invited... and the badge was not official." Reddit users suspected AI or Photoshop fakery; he streamed the game regardless.
Wildlight plans a year of updates, self-publishing as an independent studio. Early impressions praise its fresh take on hero shooters, blending MOBA and Siege elements, but launch hurdles test its staying power against flops like Concord.
