Highguard, Wildlight Entertainment's multiplayer shooter, has gone offline on March 12, 2026—less than two months after launch—following last week's shutdown announcement amid player retention and funding woes. A former Naughty Dog artist who designed early concept art for hero Condor has sworn off live-service projects, while a Kotaku writer mourned the game's unique chill vibe.
As reported earlier this month, Wildlight Entertainment announced on March 3 that servers for its 3v3/5v5 raid shooter Highguard—launched January 26, 2026, after a Game Awards 2025 trailer—would shut down on March 12 due to insufficient revenue and sharp player drops, despite peaks of nearly 100,000 concurrent users and post-launch updates like a permanent 5v5 mode.
One final patch rolled out earlier in March, but the game went offline today. Del Walker, a video game artist with credits on The Last of Us Part II, Suicide Squad, Halo Wars 2, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, shared his early concept art for Condor, a skilled explorer channeling abilities via her bird companion. Walker, who had brief involvement before in-house refinements, posted on social media: "This was my early pass of the Highguard character Condor before she was refined in-house." He affirmed continuing to feature "beautiful Black women in games" but declared, "Ones that can disappear won't get my time or energy anymore." Asked about Valve's Deadlock, he replied, "I do not plan to work on any live-service game again. Successful or not."
Amid mixed player feedback on maps, modes, and mechanics, some found charm in its relaxed pace. A Kotaku writer, after dozens of hours, praised it as a "perfect late-night chillout" akin to "light/cheap beer" gaming—less intense than Marvel Rivals or Valorant—with favorites like heroes Condor and Una, weapons Vanguard and Kraken, and mount chaos around objectives like Shieldbreaker. They expressed genuine sadness at its end.
Highguard joins live-service flops like Sony's Concord, which lasted just two weeks post-launch.
