Highguard is shutting down its servers tomorrow due to multiple factors, including the hero shooter's inability to sustain the game long-term and, according to the developers, the online discourse surrounding it.
Highguard Is Officially Shutting Down Tomorrow
Highguard’s Final Few Hours
Highguard will be shutting down its servers on March 12, 2025, only a month after its release. The game, which launched with over 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, has seen a massive drop off in popularity after a mixed critical reception and continued backlash from the community after its controversial reveal in the The Game Awards 2025.
While the game was still active, players can still enjoy Highguard’s final update, which brought a new Warden, new weapons, and skill trees. It is worth noting, though, that the game has reportedly been delisted from Steam and other platforms ahead of its closure. The game’s developers, Wildlight Studios, have cited several reasons for the game’s early cancellation, such as the game’s focus on competitive play or the team’s "hubris" during playtesting, but one developer in particular pointed to the backlash around the game as an accelerant to its shutdown.
Highguard’s Fall Was Expedited by the Discourse, Devs Say
Former Wildlight developer and lead tech artist Josh Sobel reactivated his X (formerly known as Twitter) account after receiving criticism for a prior tweet where he gave an emotionally honest reflection on the game’s failure, blaming it in part due to the instant negativity that surrounded the game. "I’m not saying our failure is purely the fault of gamer culture and that the game would have thrived without the negative discourse, but it absolutely played a role. All products are at the whims of the consumers, and the consumers put absurd amounts of effort into slandering Highguard. And it worked," Sobel wrote in the now-deleted tweet.
Sobel has since reactivated his Twitter account and apologized for the tweet, but also doubled down on the notion that the online discourse had played a role in the game’s short lifespan. He notes that he " stand[s] by the intent behind much of what I said, but I phrased it poorly, and some of my anger was misdirected." The post also points out that while the negativity surrounding the game "accelerated" the game’s shut down, there were a lot of other factors that led to its eventual shutdown.
Highguard has faced multiple challenges since its reveal at The Game Awards 2025. Apart from the overwhelming negative reception from players, issues such as a stunted development period, subsequent mass layoffs from Wildlight (which included Sobel), and publisher Tencent reportedly pulling funding from the title culminated in the game’s unfortunate end.
As Highguard faces its last few active hours, Sobel and the other members of the Wildlight team are eager to move on from the debacle and start anew, with the development team’s post on the Highguard Twitter account expressing gratitude to players for their support towards the game. Sobel, meanwhile has just recently posted a tweet thanking Highguard's playerbase for their continued support, noting that the negativity that he and the game faced didn't accurately reflect real world sentiments.
Highguard is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. For more on the medieval-fantasy hero shooter, check out our article below:
Sources:
Since I reactivated my account, I’ll address the elephant in the room. My now-deleted tweet following the Highguard layoff news a month ago was a mistake. I was stressed, devastated, angry, and running on 2hrs sleep. It was not wise to take my pain to the Internet in that volatile state. -Joshiepoo25 on Twitter
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