Highguard Collapses: Studio Lays Off Most of 100-Person Team, Left With Under 20 Devs After Tencent Funding Cut

Highguard, whose recent release and subsequent tailspin have been well documented, is now down to less than 20 developers following mass layoffs. A new Bloomberg report on Wildlight, did a deep dive into the plans for Highguard, which started off as a survival-focused shooter, with the team of Respawn Veterans at Wildlight hoping to recreate the success of Apex Legends and Titanfall.

After initial designs did not work out, the team pivoted to Highguard, leaving pieces of the original survival game in the now hero shooter. Sources told Bloomberg the team received mostly positive feedback and felt good about the game until the Game Awards in December. Originally planned for an announcement on launch day, the month-long silence between the Game Awards trailer and launch caused quite the stir.

While the game did launch to strong numbers, peaking at 97,249 according to SteamDB, it struggled to keep players. As of writing this, the 24-hour peak is 558, and while Wildlight believed they had financial backing to improve the game, Tencent recently pulled funding, causing a majority of the 100-person team to be laid off. As of right now, fewer than 20 developers remain working on Highguard.

While a new patch is on the way, it may come as a surprise to some, as the game’s website went down last week, leading many to believe the project was canceled. Turns out this was just a website issue and the game is still up and running, for now.

Where do you think it went wrong for Highguard? Is the game still savable at this point? Let us know in the comments down below and come hang out with us in the GamerzTheory Discord.