Wildlight has introduced that will probably be completely shutting down Highguard on March 12. Earlier than then, it’ll launch one last replace that provides a new Warden, a new weapon, account stage development, and ability bushes for many who need to get their last matches in.
Wildlight shared the information on X/Twitter, saying, “Immediately we’re sharing troublesome information. We now have made the choice to completely shut down Highguard on March 12.
“Since launch, greater than 2 million gamers stepped into Highguard’s world. You shared suggestions, created content material, and many believed in what we have been constructing. For that, we’re deeply grateful.
“Regardless of the fervour and exhausting work of our group, we’ve not been ready to construct a sustainable participant base to assist the sport long run. Servers will stay on-line till March twelfth. We hope you’ll leap in with us yet another time to present your assist and get these last nice matches in whereas we nonetheless can.
“The group is happy to launch one last recreation replace to get pleasure from within the remaining lifetime of the sport. We’ll be including a new Warden, a new weapon, account stage development, and ability bushes! Full patch notes are coming, and we’re focusing on tonight or tomorrow morning for patch launch.
“From all of us at Wildlight, thanks for taking part in, for supporting us, and for being a part of Highguard’s story.”
Wildlight was first introduced at The Recreation Awards 2026, and it was the massive finale for the present. Geoff Keighley had loved what he performed of the sport, and he then provided the coveted final spot to Wildlight for Highguard.
It did not go fairly in addition to deliberate, and Josh Sobel, a developer who labored on Highguard earlier than being let go from Wildgate, shared that the sport, and by extension its group, “became a joke from minute one, largely due to false assumptions about a million-dollar advert placement.”
“Inside minutes, it was determined: this recreation was lifeless on arrival, and creators now had free ragebait content material for a month,” Sobel continued. “Each one in every of our movies on social media bought downvoted to hell. Feedback sections have been flooded with copy/paste meme phrases reminiscent of ‘Harmony 2’ and ‘Titanfall 3 died for this.’ At launch, we obtained over 14k assessment bombs from customers with lower than an hour of playtime. Many did not even end the required tutorial.”
Highguard did launch on January 26, 2026, and the group at Wildgate stayed very quiet between The Recreation Awards and its launch day, however the recreation did begin off sturdy with Steam concurrents reaching almost 100,000. Sadly, it additionally had a “largely detrimental” consumer assessment score on Steam.
Wildgate was fast to tackle points with the sport, and even added a 5v5 recreation mode to counter the 3v3 complaints. Shortly thereafter, many of the studio was laid off, however the recreation saved on.
Experiences saved popping out in regards to the recreation, together with the way it got here to be and that it was quietly backed by Tencent, and now its story will sadly come to an finish after 45 days of being on-line.
We loved what we performed of Highguard, and scored it a 7/10.
“Highguard’s compelling gunplay, spectacular tempo of updates, and killer Raid mode have made its thrilling attack-and-defend encounters fairly memorable, even when the model we’ve proper now feels a bit like a tough draft,” IGN’s Travis Northup stated in his assessment. “The distinctive aggressive matches undoubtedly have room for enchancment, with maps that may really feel a little empty and rounds which might be considerably uneven between their sluggish looting lows and chaotic raiding highs.
“Plus, with simply 9 characters, a handful of maps and bases, and just one recreation mode served up in a few completely different flavors, there’s not a lot of meat on this bone simply but. However what’s right here in the meanwhile remains to be a lot of enjoyable on its personal, and I can already really feel the makings of one thing that might be fairly stellar if it’s ready to survive lengthy sufficient to absolutely understand that potential.”
Adam Bankhurst is a author for IGN. You may comply with him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and pay attention to his present, Talking Disney Magic.