Just weeks after its launch, Highguard reportedly lost the majority of its staff as it struggled to build a significant playerbase.
Level designer Alex Graner took to LinkedIn to share that he was laid off alongside most of the team at Wildlight Entertainment. He expressed, “This really hurts because I was excited about a lot of unreleased content I and others had designed for Highguard.”
Initially, the free-to-play shooter debuted with a solid peak of 97,000 players on Steam. However, the following day, the player count plummeted, losing around 90% of its audience. Currently, SteamDB shows only about 1,895 players actively playing, with a 24-hour peak of 3,580.
Highguard team faces mass layoffs, designer reports
BREAKING
Wildlight Entertainment, the developer behind Highguard, appears to have laid off most of its staff following the game’s failure to sustain its player base. pic.twitter.com/RLfvCmkF15
— Pirat_Nation 🔴 (@Pirat_Nation), February 11, 2026
Unlike single-player games, a sharp decline in players just weeks after release is a concerning sign for a free-to-play hero shooter reliant on its community for revenue.
Before entering Steam, Highguard received minimal marketing, with the notable exception of Geoff Keighley. Many argue that Keighley’s involvement—giving the game a final slot at the Game Awards—may have done more harm than good.
Keighley was one of the few gaming journalists actively promoting Highguard on X (formerly Twitter), where he also shared memes joking about accepting “everyone’s apologies” once the game launches. However, after the announcement at the Game Awards, the game’s marketing team fell silent, only resuming the sharing of gameplay videos related to weapons, modes, maps, and heroes just a day before release.
A Reddit reviewer criticized, “I blame Geoff for the pile-on this game is experiencing. It’s fun, but I probably won’t keep playing it. That said, since it’s free, I might get a few more hours out of it.”
Many players have expressed fatigue with the hero shooter genre, noting they’re reluctant to give Highguard a chance given the market’s saturation.
— Culture Crave 🍿, February 11, 2026
