It was the middle of the night here in Europe. Millions of viewers were eagerly awaiting the last reveal at The Game Awards 2025. Could it be Half-Life 3? The God of War team's next game? The follow-up to Inside? The Elder Scrolls VI? Nope. Former developers of Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends unveiled Highguard, a multiplayer game that seemed a lot like many other games we see these days. We're used to these kinds of shows ending with very exciting trailers, so you could hear the disappointment in the crowd. Players across the world also aired their opinions online, and it seemed like the large majority hated it. This made me believe that it was only a matter of time before tonight's announcement happened.
Alex Graner, one of Highguard's level designers, confirms that most of the developers at Wildlight Entertainment were laid off today. This definitely means that Highguard won't get as many changes and improvements as the developers have talked about since launch, which means a miracle will have to happen for the game to still be online and available for sale in a year or two.
Even if this was predictable, it's obviously a shame to see people getting laid off. Especially after trying to "save" the game with not just one, but two big updates.
This and Concord really shows that making multiplayer games that can be called hero shooters is dangerous these days. Seems like extraction shooters are the new hotness now, so it'll be interesting to see if Marathon has a better chance than many thought after the first tests.