Sony is issuing computerized refunds to gamers who paid for added content material in Highguard.
Highguard launched on January 26 after virtually no communication with potential gamers between its December The Recreation Awards announcement and its launch date. Whereas Steam concurrents virtually hit 100,000, they quickly plummeted. And although developer Wildlight was fast to deal with points with the sport, even including a 5v5 recreation mode to counter 3v3 complaints, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than a lot of the studio was laid off. Wildlight went on to announce that it could completely shut down Highguard on March 12, however not earlier than a “farewell tour” patch.
Now, as noticed by gamers and shared on Reddit, refunds appear to have been issued mechanically, with one refunded fan writing: “I truthfully did not look after a refund. I loved the sport and loved supporting it, however in case you have been searching for a refund, they’re sending them out.”
Thus far, it appears that evidently Sony is preemptively returning gamers’ cash — commenters in the identical thread declare to haven’t but heard from Steam or Xbox. If this all sounds acquainted, that is as a result of it’s, with Highguard following an identical trajectory to disastrous stay service hero shooter Harmony, which has gone down as one of many largest flops in PlayStation historical past. Amid disastrously low participant numbers, Sony pulled Harmony offline simply two weeks after launch, with one estimate suggesting it bought simply 25,000 copies. Its developer, Firewalk Studios, closed shortly thereafter.
Earlier this month, former Wildlight developer and degree designer Alex Graner instructed the Quad Damage Podcast that all through improvement, Wildlight “actually leaned into the aggressive aspect of it, and that was all the time one in all my largest fears as a participant.”
“I can solely converse to my aspect of it as a degree designer, however once I joined [Wildlight], it was making an attempt to determine this new, bold recreation, and this crew is all the time pushing the boundaries,” Graner mentioned. “You do not attempt to create one thing that does not work out, but it surely occurs, sadly. All through improvement, we actually leaned into the aggressive aspect of it, and that was all the time one in all my largest fears as a participant.
“3v3 duos is all the time the sweatiest model of something like battle royale, goal modes, wingman, it, you title it. It requires such a excessive depth of communication together with your crew, and crew play, that it would not depart a lot room for casualness. I believe that was the largest factor that turned a variety of gamers off Highguard,” he added.
The difficulty, Graner believes, is that Highguard had “all these completely different guidelines and phases,” which made it tough for gamers who do not have already got a crew to play with, and significantly difficult for brand spanking new gamers.
“It is like, ‘Oh, you need to loot, now we have got to chase this goal, now now we have to plant this goal, now it is extra time… It has all these guidelines, which I believe works at a very excessive degree, however when gamers are first coming in it is loads to know,” Graner defined. “On high of all that, as a result of it was 3v3, that form of recreation simply requires high-skill motion and capturing, which is already a reasonably excessive [bar to] entry as effectively. So in case you simply have a couple of unhealthy video games or your teammates aren’t sticking collectively, you are simply going to get rolled, and it’s extremely onerous to 1v2 in our recreation.
“It is all designed to be a team-based shooter. I believe that was the largest factor. Folks simply form of turned it off as a result of they did not have the crew.”
One other former Highguard developer additionally lately spoke out in regards to the disastrous announcement and launch, saying the sport, and by extension its crew, “was a joke from minute one, largely as a consequence of false assumptions a couple of million-dollar advert placement.” We lately discovered that Highguard was financially backed by Tencent, which reportedly pulled funding simply a few weeks after it launched. In the meantime, it appears like Wildlight isn’t any extra. Its web site is offline and its LinkedIn web page is unavailable.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and guide with 15+ years expertise working with a number of the world’s largest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.