Highguard’s Future Looks Bleak as Wildlight Sever Much of the Development Team

Highguard, Wildlight Entertainment

When Highguard was unveiled to the world at The Game Awards 2025, the online backlash was instant. Why was this the ‘one last thing?’, ‘who wants a new hero shooter in 2026’, ‘why didn’t they (many of the development team made Titanfall 3) make Titanfall 3!?’. Although some of the online backlash was over the top, these three were very valid questions in their own right.

Wildlight Entertainment went completely radio silent after the reveal, an interesting but understandable choice which seemed like either – 1) If you’re a glass half empty, damage limitation; or 2) If you’re a glass half full, a bold play from the developer to drop an excellent polished game. The way things have played out with perishing player counts, internet reception and more, it’s largely the former.

Now, a mere 16 days after launch, Wildlight have announced that they’re severing many of their development team who have worked on the game. First spotted in a LinkedIn post by a Senior Level Designer, Alex Graner announced: “Unfortunately, along with most of the team at Wildlight, I was laid off today. This one really stings as there was a lot of unreleased content I was really looking forward to that I and others designed for Highguard.”.

Later, Wildlight followed up with an official statement announcing they’re relieving much of the team from the studio:

Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to part ways with a number of our team members while keeping a core group of developers to continue innovating on and supporting the game.

We're proud of the team, talent, and the product we've created together. We're also grateful…
— Wildlight Entertainment (@WildlightEnt) February 12, 2026

With little further information available at this time, it’s unclear on the trajectory for the game. Graner’s comment could be interpreted that the unreleased content may never see the light of day. The core group Wildlight refer to will likely be managing the server, bugs and general stability rather than creating or releasing future content.

The shooter market is such a saturated market to break into, going against juggernauts like Call of Duty, Battlefield and the smash hit, Arc Raiders must be a daunting prospect for any developer. Regrettably, Highguard hasn’t seen the glowing reception it needed to ever have a chance.

Highguard, however long it now lasts for, will fortunately outlive Concord which lasted exactly 2 weeks before the server closure. If the game does go offline, be sure to grab the Highguard achievements or trophies before then.

Did you give Highguard a chance? Are its days truly numbered? Let us know in the comments below, or join the Gamer Social Club Discord to chat about Highguard and all your favourite shooters.