What a disaster... From closing out The Game Awards 2025 to shutting down completely just 45 days after it released, Highguard has ended up being a huge disappointment.
When it was revealed to the world on 11 December 2025, it was met with a rather lukewarm reception, which is probably putting it mildly.
Fans were left in disbelief that a previously unannounced free-to-play hero shooter closed out the show when that slot is usually reserved for some of the biggest games from the biggest studios - think back to 2024 when Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet from Naughty Dog was revealed.
The game was scheduled to release on 26 January but developers Wildlight Entertainment remained radio silent from the moment it was announced at The Game Awards to just days before launch.
When it did release, with it being free-to-play, there was some intrigue, with a highest concurrent player count of 97,249 recorded not long after its launch.
But Highguard failed to sustain those numbers with around a 90 per cent drop off in the first week alone.
Wildlight had plans to continue developing the game, implemented a number of changes and had a full roadmap of what players could expect over the coming year.
But layoffs followed and it was announced the game would shut down for good on 12 March. Even in the 24 hours just before the game went offline, the peak Steam player count was a mere 784.
And now, Highguard is no more, adding another live service game to an ever growing list of gaming failures.
The game has now been delisted on every platform it was available on and in the Gaming Subreddit, gamers have been having their say on the latest huge failure in the world of gaming.
The OP (original poster) said: "It joins the great Concord in the high skies of lost media. Another reminder of no matter how good or bad a game is, it does not deserve to be gone forever like this. This is why Stop Killing Games is so important."
A second commented: "Shame, wasted opportunity and a lot of work. There were good elements in there but it just didn't seem like it knew what it wanted to be, nor did it really bring anything new or interesting to the table. Add to that some of the really bizarre launch decisions like team sizes and barren maps and it was a recipe for failure."
"When will they learn live service games and multi-player games cannot be only type of games being released," a third declared. "Want consistent revenue, hype, growing IP library and fanboys? Focus and pump out single player games consistently like the heyday of gaming!"
A fourth mused: "The games industry will now proceed to learn absolutely nothing from this and continue to pour money into live service games that no one has the interest nor time in playing."
And a fifth said: "What a waste of time and money."
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