Reports indicate that Chinese firm Tencent provided secret funding for the hero shooter Highguard, developed by Wildlight Entertainment. The game, launched last month, has faced mass layoffs at the studio and a sharp decline in players. Its official website went offline today, fueling speculation about its future.
Highguard, a free-to-play hero shooter, was announced at the 2025 Game Awards in December and launched in January 2026. Developed by Wildlight Entertainment, cofounded by former Respawn Entertainment staff who worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends, the game received mixed reactions from the start. Critics labeled it generic, questioning the need for another online-only shooter, which led to negative online discourse and content creator videos during a period of developer silence.
Upon release, Highguard peaked at over 90,000 concurrent players on Steam but lost nearly all within 48 hours, dropping over 95 percent from its peak on PC. Subsequent updates, including a 5v5 mode, failed to reverse the decline. As a live-service title, it relies on microtransactions for skins and battle passes, which players are less inclined to purchase amid doubts about the game's longevity.
Last week, Wildlight announced mass layoffs. A report from Game File, published February 17, 2026, revealed that Tencent's TiMi studio—known for titles like Honor of Kings and Delta Force—served as the primary backer during the game's four-year development. Wildlight had kept this funding secret; CEO Dusty Welch told Bloomberg last month, “We don’t really speak publicly about the business, and the economics and the financials of our company.” Tencent often invests in Western studios like Larian, FromSoftware, Epic Games, and Ubisoft, typically with partial stakes.
On February 17, 2026, the official website PlayHighguard.com went down, displaying only the game's logo and a message: “This site is currently unavailable,” along with a support email. The outage, noted since at least 7:50 a.m. EST, has sparked rumors of an impending shutdown. Wildlight has not updated on the game's roadmap or responded to inquiries about the site's status.
