Fans are Disappointed and Furious as Developers Decided to Permanently Shut Down Highguard on March 12

Wildlight Entertainment has announced that its free-to-play squad shooter Highguard will shut down permanently on March 12, 2026. The game launched on January 26, which means it will close only about 45 days after release. The studio said the decision was made because the game could not keep a sustainable number of players, even though more than 2 million people tried it at launch.

Before the shutdown, the developers plan to release one final update on March 4. The update will add a new Warden (playable character), a new weapon, account-level progression, and skill trees. The studio said this update is meant to give players some new content during the final days of the game.

Highguard had a strong start when it first launched. On Steam, the game reached almost 100,000 players at the same time. But the numbers dropped quickly in the following weeks. Player activity fell to only a few hundred people, which made it difficult for the studio to keep running the live-service game.

Wildlight Entertainment was founded by former developers from Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind popular games like Apex Legends and Titanfall. Soon after Highguard launched, the company reportedly went through major layoffs. By the final weeks, only a small core team of fewer than 20 developers was still working on the game.

https://x.com/PlayHighguard/status/2028923492125819287

The game was first revealed as a World Premiere at The Game Awards 2025. While the reveal brought attention, the project also faced skepticism from some players who felt the market already had too many similar hero-style shooters. Online discussions about the game were often negative, and some players compared it to other live-service games that shut down quickly.

Former developer Josh Sobel later said the game became a target of jokes very early. He said many people made assumptions about its marketing and the attention it received during The Game Awards.

Reports also suggested that the game struggled with funding and momentum after launch, which made long-term support difficult. Highguard included microtransactions, but the developer has not yet explained whether players who bought cosmetic items will receive refunds.

The project was also reportedly supported financially by Tencent, although details about the partnership were not widely shared. With Highguard shutting down, the future of Wildlight Entertainment is unclear. The studio has not announced any new games, and it is uncertain what will happen to the remaining team after its first title closes.

After the shutdown news, many players on Twitter shared their disappointment and anger. Some users said that the game actually got a fair chance because millions of people tried it at launch, but most of them stopped playing quickly. They argued that the problem was not YouTubers or online criticism, but that players simply did not enjoy the game enough to stay.

Other players were worried about money they spent on skins and other cosmetic items, asking the developers if refunds would be offered.

A few users also questioned the studio’s earlier one-year roadmap, saying it was confusing to see the game shut down so quickly after those plans were announced.