Highguard Shutting Down March 12th After Failing to Build Player Base

Servers Go Dark Next Week#

Wildlight Studios announced that Highguard, its free-to-play shooter, will permanently shut down on March 12th. According to the developer, the game "has not been able to build a sustainable player base" despite launching less than two months ago in mid-January.

The studio will release one final game update before pulling the plug on the servers. The shutdown comes alongside mass layoffs at Wildlight Studios, with most of the team reportedly let go. Sources suggest only a skeleton crew remains to handle the sunset process and any remaining contractual obligations.

Short-Lived Launch#

Highguard's brief run highlights the brutal competition in the free-to-play shooter space, where titles like Valorant, Apex Legends, and The Finals dominate player attention. Breaking into this market requires either a massive marketing budget, a unique hook, or both. Highguard struggled to offer either.

The game was reportedly secretly funded by Tencent and had plans for an Apex Legends-style shadow drop that was ultimately cancelled. Instead, Highguard received a quiet launch with minimal fanfare, which likely contributed to its inability to capture mindshare in a genre where momentum is everything. Without streamers picking it up or a viral moment to drive interest, the player count never reached critical mass.

Despite the developer's confidence during development ("There's no way this will flop"), the reality proved harsher. Peak concurrent players on Steam reportedly never exceeded a few thousand, and matchmaking times quickly ballooned as the population dwindled. One source close to the project stated bluntly: "Highguard was doomed." They pointed to a lack of clear identity and late-stage pivots that left the game feeling unfocused, neither tactical enough to compete with Valorant nor fast-paced enough to stand alongside Apex.

The developer expressed disappointment in a statement: "I wish Highguard had been received better." It's a sentiment that echoes across the industry as more studios learn the hard lesson that quality alone doesn't guarantee survival in the live-service arena.

What's Next#

Players have until March 12th to experience Highguard before it disappears entirely. The final update's contents have not been detailed, though it's unclear whether Wildlight will make any last-minute changes to give the game a proper sendoff. Some studios in similar situations have unlocked all cosmetics or cranked up XP gains to let remaining players experience everything before the lights go out.

The shutdown adds Highguard to a growing list of live-service games that failed to find an audience in an increasingly crowded market. Knockout City, Rumbleverse, Hyper Scape, and Crucible all met similar fates in recent years, often within their first year of operation. For players who enjoyed the game's mechanics, the closure serves as another reminder of the risks inherent to always-online titles. When the servers shut down, there's no offline mode, no private servers, no way to revisit what you enjoyed. The game simply ceases to exist.

This trend raises uncomfortable questions about game preservation and whether the industry's pivot toward live-service models is sustainable for anyone beyond the top handful of titles. For every Fortnite or Destiny 2, there are dozens of Highguards that burn through funding and talent before vanishing without a trace.