Launch Issues
Highguard launches to technical woes and negative Steam reviews
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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.
Embark Studios has compensated Arc Raiders players with 500 Raider Tokens following server overloads during the game's launch week. The extraction shooter saw peak concurrent players exceeding 354,000 on Steam, surpassing initial expectations and causing access issues. The team is also restoring loot lost to cheaters to maintain fair play.