{"id":1805958,"date":"2026-03-04T09:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1805958"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T06:15:18","slug":"highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-wildlight-doesnt-make-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1805958","title":{"rendered":"Highguard will shut down permanently next week because Wildlight doesn&#8217;t make &#8220;enough revenue to keep anyone employed to work on it&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/highguard\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Highguard<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Highguard will shut down permanently next week because Wildlight doesn&#8217;t make &#8220;enough revenue to keep anyone employed to work on it&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">One final update will arrive in the coming days.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Highguard-image-showing-a-character-holding-a-small-bear-like-creature's-paw-as-they-look-towards-the-distance.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Highguard image showing a character holding a small bear-like creature's paw as they look towards the distance\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Highguard-image-showing-a-character-holding-a-small-bear-like-creature's-paw-as-they-look-towards-the-distance.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Wildguard<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1644925423.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Victoria Phillips Kennedy avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1644925423.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/victoria-kennedy\">Victoria Phillips Kennedy<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-04T09:15:18+00:00\">March 4, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-will-shut-down-permanently-next-week-because-it-doesnt-have-enough-revenue-to-keep-anyone-employed-to-work-on-it?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          23 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"50adbca5-85d4-4527-8e29-842e617316c0\" data-name=\"Highguard\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Highguard\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Highguard\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Highguard\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Highguard\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Highguard\" title=\"Follow Highguard\"><br \/>\n  Follow Highguard<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>After less than six weeks, developer Wildlight has announced it is shutting down its  free-to-play hero shooter Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>Highguard will &#8220;permanently shut down&#8221; on 12th March, Wildlight has said today.<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since launch, more than two million players stepped into Highguard\u2019s world. You shared feedback, created content, and many believed in what we were building. For that, we are deeply grateful,&#8221; Wildlight said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PlayHighguard\/status\/2028923492125819287\">post on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Despite the passion and hard work of our team, we have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term. Servers will remain online until March 12th. We hope you\u2019ll jump in with us one more time to show your support and get those final great matches in while we still can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Highguard closed out The Game Awards 2025, with a trailer introducing us all to a world of battling Wardens and their magical mounts. The game then launched in January, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-hits-almost-100k-concurrent-pc-players-on-launch-but-struggles-with-early-negative-steam-reviews\">quickly had a large influx of players on its release<\/a>. But there were a few complaints as well, with many disappointed with areas such as map size and the 3v3 game format. The studio sought to address these issues with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-latest-update-includes-new-warden-ekon-who-can-ride-himself-yes-really\">a number of content updates and patches<\/a>, while also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-gets-permanent-5v5-mode\">making its once-limited-time 5v5 mode a permanent feature<\/a>. However, this was not enough, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-barely-has-several-hundred-people-playing-together\">dwindling player numbers<\/a> have ultimately resulted in Wildlight deciding to cut its losses, and pull the plug on Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the shut down, Wildlight is releasing one last update, which will add a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees. We can expect full patch notes in the coming day or so, along with the update&#8217;s release.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From all of us at Wildlight, thank you for playing, for supporting us, and for being part of Highguard\u2019s story,&#8221; the studio closed.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate post, Highguard&#8217;s game director Chad Grenier was asked why the team was not going to support the game for longer. To this, he replied: &#8220;Not enough revenue to keep anyone employed to work on it, unfortunately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Four characters stand in heroic poses in a line. A few of them hold large guns. They are a Highguard team of heroes.\" height=\"1033\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/highguard-update.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7783155856727977\" width=\"1837\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Four characters stand in heroic poses in a line. A few of them hold large guns. They are a Highguard team of heroes.\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"highguard-update.jpg\" height=\"1033\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7783155856727977\" width=\"1837\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Wildlight<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Resharing today&#8217;s news, Grenier also offered some player stats for the ill-fated shooter. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChadGrenier\">Grenier<\/a>, the average play session lasted 91 minutes. &#8220;This is actually quite good,&#8221; Highguard&#8217;s director said, stating &#8220;the average games played per session was 3.48 matches per session&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, most recent stats revealed PlayStation had the biggest playerbase, ahead of Xbox and then Steam. Scarlet was the most picked character &#8220;by a good margin&#8221; (also, once upon a time she was called Skye, while Kai was called Jade before launch).<\/p>\n<p>As for how games ended, most were due to a generator exploding. Its most popular mode, meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-highguard-level-designer-suggests-sweaty-competitive-3v3-play-was-the-biggest-thing-that-turned-a-lot-of-players-off\">was 3v3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Grenier added the US was Highguard&#8217;s biggest player base, followed by Japan. Highguard&#8217;s director added &#8220;92 percent of people who loaded the game for the first time, completed the training mission&#8221;. This is &#8220;actually a very healthy number,&#8221; he said, &#8220;similar to what we saw at launch with Apex training completion&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A lady in red armour with big sleeves shoots a machine gun towards the camera.\" height=\"986\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/highguard-screenshot.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7778904665314401\" width=\"1753\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A lady in red armour with big sleeves shoots a machine gun towards the camera.\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"highguard-screenshot.jpg\" height=\"986\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7778904665314401\" width=\"1753\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Wildlight<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Earlier this month, it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-developer-wildlight-entertainment-reportedly-funded-by-tencent\">reported Tencent pulled funding from Wildlight<\/a> just two weeks after Highguard&#8217;s launch. Staff were called to an all-hands meeting, and then told that there would be layoffs as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/tencent-pulled-highguards-funding-two-weeks-after-launch\">Highguard had seemingly failed to meet whatever metrics Tencent had for it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-not-shutting-down-following-wildlight-layoffs-with-a-core-group-of-members-left-to-support-game\">Wildlight publicly confirmed layoffs a day later<\/a>, but wouldn&#8217;t specify numbers. At this time, it was said &#8220;a core group of developers&#8221; would remain at the studio to work on the game.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>After less than six weeks, developer Wildlight has announced it is shutting down its  free-to-play hero shooter Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>Highguard will &#8220;permanently shut down&#8221; on 12th March, Wildlight has said today.<\/p>\n<p><!-- code from Primis - Eurogamer.net - eurogamer.net --><\/p>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- code from Primis --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since launch, more than two million players stepped into Highguard\u2019s world. You shared feedback, created content, and many believed in what we were building. For that, we are deeply grateful,&#8221; Wildlight said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PlayHighguard\/status\/2028923492125819287\">post on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Despite the passion and hard work of our team, we have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term. Servers will remain online until March 12th. We hope you\u2019ll jump in with us one more time to show your support and get those final great matches in while we still can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Highguard closed out The Game Awards 2025, with a trailer introducing us all to a world of battling Wardens and their magical mounts. The game then launched in January, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-hits-almost-100k-concurrent-pc-players-on-launch-but-struggles-with-early-negative-steam-reviews\">quickly had a large influx of players on its release<\/a>. But there were a few complaints as well, with many disappointed with areas such as map size and the 3v3 game format. The studio sought to address these issues with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-latest-update-includes-new-warden-ekon-who-can-ride-himself-yes-really\">a number of content updates and patches<\/a>, while also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-gets-permanent-5v5-mode\">making its once-limited-time 5v5 mode a permanent feature<\/a>. However, this was not enough, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-barely-has-several-hundred-people-playing-together\">dwindling player numbers<\/a> have ultimately resulted in Wildlight deciding to cut its losses, and pull the plug on Highguard.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of the shut down, Wildlight is releasing one last update, which will add a new Warden, a new weapon, account level progression, and skill trees. We can expect full patch notes in the coming day or so, along with the update&#8217;s release.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From all of us at Wildlight, thank you for playing, for supporting us, and for being part of Highguard\u2019s story,&#8221; the studio closed.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate post, Highguard&#8217;s game director Chad Grenier was asked why the team was not going to support the game for longer. To this, he replied: &#8220;Not enough revenue to keep anyone employed to work on it, unfortunately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Four characters stand in heroic poses in a line. A few of them hold large guns. They are a Highguard team of heroes.\" height=\"1033\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/highguard-update.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7783155856727977\" width=\"1837\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Four characters stand in heroic poses in a line. A few of them hold large guns. They are a Highguard team of heroes.\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"highguard-update.jpg\" height=\"1033\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7783155856727977\" width=\"1837\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Wildlight<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Resharing today&#8217;s news, Grenier also offered some player stats for the ill-fated shooter. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChadGrenier\">Grenier<\/a>, the average play session lasted 91 minutes. &#8220;This is actually quite good,&#8221; Highguard&#8217;s director said, stating &#8220;the average games played per session was 3.48 matches per session&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, most recent stats revealed PlayStation had the biggest playerbase, ahead of Xbox and then Steam. Scarlet was the most picked character &#8220;by a good margin&#8221; (also, once upon a time she was called Skye, while Kai was called Jade before launch).<\/p>\n<p>As for how games ended, most were due to a generator exploding. Its most popular mode, meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-highguard-level-designer-suggests-sweaty-competitive-3v3-play-was-the-biggest-thing-that-turned-a-lot-of-players-off\">was 3v3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Grenier added the US was Highguard&#8217;s biggest player base, followed by Japan. Highguard&#8217;s director added &#8220;92 percent of people who loaded the game for the first time, completed the training mission&#8221;. This is &#8220;actually a very healthy number,&#8221; he said, &#8220;similar to what we saw at launch with Apex training completion&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A lady in red armour with big sleeves shoots a machine gun towards the camera.\" height=\"986\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/highguard-screenshot.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7778904665314401\" width=\"1753\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A lady in red armour with big sleeves shoots a machine gun towards the camera.\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"highguard-screenshot.jpg\" height=\"986\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7778904665314401\" width=\"1753\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Wildlight<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Earlier this month, it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-developer-wildlight-entertainment-reportedly-funded-by-tencent\">reported Tencent pulled funding from Wildlight<\/a> just two weeks after Highguard&#8217;s launch. Staff were called to an all-hands meeting, and then told that there would be layoffs as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/tencent-pulled-highguards-funding-two-weeks-after-launch\">Highguard had seemingly failed to meet whatever metrics Tencent had for it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-not-shutting-down-following-wildlight-layoffs-with-a-core-group-of-members-left-to-support-game\">Wildlight publicly confirmed layoffs a day later<\/a>, but wouldn&#8217;t specify numbers. At this time, it was said &#8220;a core group of developers&#8221; would remain at the studio to work on the game.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Highguard Highguard will shut down permanently next week because Wildlight doesn&#8217;t make &#8220;enough revenue to keep anyone employed to work on it&#8221; One final update will arrive in the coming days. Image credit: Wildguard News by Victoria Phillips Kennedy News Reporter Published on March 4, 2026 23 comments Follow Highguard After less than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1805958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1805958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1805958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1805958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1805958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1805958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}