Highguard developer lays off staff and gamers are in disbelief for one key reason

Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment has laid off some of its staff and gamers online are in disbelief because of one key detail.

Wildlight confirmed this in a statement posted on X / Twitter.

"We made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game," the post said.

"We're proud of the team, talent, and the product we've created together. We're also grateful for players who gave the game a shot and those who continue to be a part of our community."

This came after former Wildlight workers posted on LinkedIn and other social media sites they had been laid off from their jobs with the studio less than two-and-a-half weeks after the launch of Highguard.

One of these posts was shared in the Games Subreddit and most gamers in the comments can't believe Wildlight has decided to get rid of some of its staff so soon after the game's launch.

One said: "Damn, it's been like, what, two weeks and they're already writing it off?"

A second agreed: "I didn't think the game would hit any massive stride and be the next huge GAAS but I thought it could at least take feedback and maintain a small, yet solid player base. Feels like the game barely got its feet off the ground, damn. I wonder how many players they were expecting even before Geoff's promo spot because this is crazy fast turn around."

"There's just no way this game would have succeeded at this point it was at," a third commented. "It was way too deep of a hole, it's a very competitive and oversaturated market and first impressions are everything for new IPs. Also this wasn't bankrolled by a big publisher and had a big team for an independent studio. Live service games for the part are all or nothing, you're either a big smash hit or not."

A fourth said: "The studio really waited until they just made it past the Concord mark before pulling the plug."

"I don't wanna hear any of the 'this is Geoff's fault!' nonsense," a fifth posted. "The game got 100k concurrent players on Steam alone at launch. It never would have touched those numbers without The Game Awards trailer. If the game was actually good, people would have continued to play it. It's that simple. TGA trailer worked great. The game just isn't good enough to retain players. That has nothing to do with Geoff."

Elsewhere from indy100:

• It's alive! Highguard devs finally break silence days before launch
• What's going on with Highguard? Deafening silence since The Game Awards swirls speculation

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