{"id":1819874,"date":"2026-03-11T10:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1819874"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:08:06","slug":"highguard-technical-artist-returns-to-social-media-apologises-for-his-misdirected-anger-about-the-games-troubled-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1819874","title":{"rendered":"Highguard technical artist returns to social media, apologises for his &#8220;misdirected&#8221; anger about the game&#8217;s troubled launch"},"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 technical artist returns to social media, apologises for his &#8220;misdirected&#8221; anger about the game&#8217;s troubled launch<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;It was not wise to take my pain to the Internet in that volatile state.&#8221;<\/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_lnVtzL1.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Highguard red character and tree creature summon\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"highguard_lnVtzL1.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Wildlight Entertainment<\/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=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\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\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-11T10:08:06+00:00\">March 11, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguard-technical-artist-returns-to-social-media-following-outburst?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          7 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><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/highguard\">Highguard<\/a> dies tomorrow, 12th March. A combination of misguided design decisions, online vitriol, and <a 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\">a shocking lack of post-launch runway<\/a> have doomed Wildlight Entertainment&#8217;s hero shooter to disappear just one and a half months after its launch. As the dust settles, <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\">more devs are opening up<\/a> about the rollercoaster ride that was the game&#8217;s development and release, as some have even had time to reflect on recent mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>At least that&#8217;s what Josh Sobel, technical artist and rigger, has revealed with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Joshiepoo25\/status\/2031476705647538331\">his new post on X\/Twitter<\/a> after disappearing for a month following an outburst against online grifters and the push of narratives that made Highguard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/fps\/laid-off-highguard-developer-cuts-loose-on-the-reaction-to-the-infamous-game-awards-reveal-trailer-we-were-turned-into-a-joke-from-minute-one\/\">instantly go &#8220;downhill&#8221; after the initial reveal<\/a>. While he says he stands &#8220;by the intent behind much of what I said,&#8221; he admits it was all phrased &#8220;poorly&#8221; and as the result of difficult circumstances. Here&#8217;s the 10th March post:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Josh Sobel apologizes on X\/Twitter, March 11\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Josh-Sobel-Highguard-dev-post-March-10.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.126153846153846\" width=\"732\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Josh Sobel apologizes on X\/Twitter, March 11\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Josh-Sobel-Highguard-dev-post-March-10.png\" height=\"650\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.126153846153846\" width=\"732\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Josh Sobel on X\/Twitter<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sobel acknowledges &#8220;there were a lot of elements involved&#8221; in the downfall of the game (and you know this is true if you&#8217;ve been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/newsletters\/2026-02-26\/the-story-behind-the-failure-of-highguard?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3MjEyNjY2MSwiZXhwIjoxNzcyNzMxNDYxLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQjJURlpLR0lGVDEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.ty0kXKqfEl28WgD25I4hsgwQZcpJq_K3n3AVsJXMoWc\">following the whole saga<\/a>), but, if you ask me, he&#8217;s right to point out the external forces that always rooted for the game to fail, well before we had access to the thing and evaluated <em>what it actually was<\/em>. The rest of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/fps\/laid-off-highguard-developer-cuts-loose-on-the-reaction-to-the-infamous-game-awards-reveal-trailer-we-were-turned-into-a-joke-from-minute-one\/\">his (now deleted) original comments<\/a> and the tone employed are up for debate, yes, but he admits he &#8220;was stressed, devastated, angry, and running on 2hrs sleep.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In any case, Highguard is the latest victim in a long line of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vg247.com\/concord-review\">short-lived trend-chasing shooters<\/a> trying to break into an over-crowded market. If you fancy a few final games before Highguard is turned off forever, you can still jump in today to play with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-final-update-which-wildlights-skeleton-crew-crunched-to-finish-goes-live-just-days-before-the-game-disappears-forever\">the content update the remaining developers knocked out last week<\/a>.<\/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><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/highguard\">Highguard<\/a> dies tomorrow, 12th March. A combination of misguided design decisions, online vitriol, and <a 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\">a shocking lack of post-launch runway<\/a> have doomed Wildlight Entertainment&#8217;s hero shooter to disappear just one and a half months after its launch. As the dust settles, <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\">more devs are opening up<\/a> about the rollercoaster ride that was the game&#8217;s development and release, as some have even had time to reflect on recent mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>At least that&#8217;s what Josh Sobel, technical artist and rigger, has revealed with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Joshiepoo25\/status\/2031476705647538331\">his new post on X\/Twitter<\/a> after disappearing for a month following an outburst against online grifters and the push of narratives that made Highguard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/fps\/laid-off-highguard-developer-cuts-loose-on-the-reaction-to-the-infamous-game-awards-reveal-trailer-we-were-turned-into-a-joke-from-minute-one\/\">instantly go &#8220;downhill&#8221; after the initial reveal<\/a>. While he says he stands &#8220;by the intent behind much of what I said,&#8221; he admits it was all phrased &#8220;poorly&#8221; and as the result of difficult circumstances. Here&#8217;s the 10th March post:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Josh Sobel apologizes on X\/Twitter, March 11\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Josh-Sobel-Highguard-dev-post-March-10.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.126153846153846\" width=\"732\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Josh Sobel apologizes on X\/Twitter, March 11\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"Josh-Sobel-Highguard-dev-post-March-10.png\" height=\"650\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.126153846153846\" width=\"732\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Josh Sobel on X\/Twitter<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Sobel acknowledges &#8220;there were a lot of elements involved&#8221; in the downfall of the game (and you know this is true if you&#8217;ve been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/newsletters\/2026-02-26\/the-story-behind-the-failure-of-highguard?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3MjEyNjY2MSwiZXhwIjoxNzcyNzMxNDYxLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQjJURlpLR0lGVDEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.ty0kXKqfEl28WgD25I4hsgwQZcpJq_K3n3AVsJXMoWc\">following the whole saga<\/a>), but, if you ask me, he&#8217;s right to point out the external forces that always rooted for the game to fail, well before we had access to the thing and evaluated <em>what it actually was<\/em>. The rest of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/fps\/laid-off-highguard-developer-cuts-loose-on-the-reaction-to-the-infamous-game-awards-reveal-trailer-we-were-turned-into-a-joke-from-minute-one\/\">his (now deleted) original comments<\/a> and the tone employed are up for debate, yes, but he admits he &#8220;was stressed, devastated, angry, and running on 2hrs sleep.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In any case, Highguard is the latest victim in a long line of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vg247.com\/concord-review\">short-lived trend-chasing shooters<\/a> trying to break into an over-crowded market. If you fancy a few final games before Highguard is turned off forever, you can still jump in today to play with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/highguards-final-update-which-wildlights-skeleton-crew-crunched-to-finish-goes-live-just-days-before-the-game-disappears-forever\">the content update the remaining developers knocked out last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Highguard Highguard technical artist returns to social media, apologises for his &#8220;misdirected&#8221; anger about the game&#8217;s troubled launch &#8220;It was not wise to take my pain to the Internet in that volatile state.&#8221; Image credit: Wildlight Entertainment News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on March 11, 2026 7 comments Follow Highguard Highguard dies [&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-1819874","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\/1819874","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=1819874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1819874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1819874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1819874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}