Is Highguard shutting down? Dev reveals what's really happening

While there have been a number of things to suggest an uncertain future for Highguard, culminating in speculation it could be shut down completely, a developer has revealed what's really going on.

Highguard is a free-to-play PvP (player versus player) raid shooter from Wildlight Entertainment. The game was first revealed at the close of The Game Awards 2025 and released on 26 January.

Highguard's official website is down and has been for around 24 hours or so at the time of writing. When attempting to access it, an error message appears saying "site unavailable".

A Game File report claims Tencent "secretly funded" Highguard. Wildlight's LinkedIn page says it's "a new, fully-funded entertainment studio".

And it was also spotted online that Highguard is no longer a game that creators can select on YouTube.

There has been a lot of speculation swirling Highguard could be shut down completely - but a developer has explained what's really going on / Wildlight Entertainment

This all comes soon after Wildlight laid off a number of staff "while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game", the studio said in a statement.

All of this combined has sparked speculation that Wildlight could be winding down Highguard and that it might shut down for good less than three weeks after it launched.

But someone that's understood to be one of the developers that's still at Wildlight reassured fans this is not the case.

On screenshots captured in Highguard's Discord channel, the dev confirmed the game is still being worked on and posted: "Once we lock in the patch date, I'll see if we can get a patch preview up for you guys a bit beforehand."

Responding to questions about the game's website, in a separate comment, the developer added: "Not sure on the timeframe but basically it needs to be transferred and simplified. Low priority atm (reputational damage already done). Now we just need to focus on delivering updates and content to improve."

Neither Wildlight nor Tencent have commented publicly about these claims at present. indy100 has contacted Wildlight and Tencent reps for comment and we'll update this article if we hear anything further.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Highguard developer lays off staff and gamers are in disbelief for one key reason
• The Game Awards 2025: Every trailer and announcement unveiled at event

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