After its rocky launch in January, Wildlight Entertainment’s multiplayer shooter Highguard will be shut down permanently on 12 March, with servers going offline, and all remaining players cut off.
The news was shared in a social media post that lamented the game’s impending closure. Per this post, Highguard was simply not able to build a player base to sustain the long-term growth of the game.
Highguard shutdown – quick links
Highguard lasted just over two months
As Wildlight Entertainment notes, more than two million players have joined the world of Highguard since its launch, largely driven by intrigue around its show-closing Game Awards trailer. There was plenty of hype around the game but on launch, many players were left unsatisfied, criticising elements like repetitive gameplay, too-large open world maps and a lack of meat on its bones.
ScreenHub: Highguard peaks at 97k concurrents – but reactions mostly negative
Its Steam rating quickly dived, and players who had given it a chance fell away the game. Its concurrent players slowly disappeared, at the same rate as public criticism and scrutiny about its long-term success grew. It was the perfect storm, in an era where live service games face tougher challenges than ever before.
Based on these recent movements, it appears that both immediate success and signs of long-term positive sentiment and growth are required to keep any live service game in operation. Even despite the years of development poured into Highguard, it took just a few weeks for its closure to be decided – seemingly cutting losses before the cost became too great.
What Wildlight Entertainment has said about the closure
As shared by Wildlight Entertainment, the team was wildly passionate about Highguard, and worked hard to see it to release. Despite this, the game has not been as successful as it needs to be to continue.
Servers will be maintained for the next two weeks, and an additional game update will also be released, introducing a brand new Warden, a new weapon, skill trees and account level progression. Players will be able to jump into this update over a very short period, to see what Highguard could have become with more sustained support.
ScreenHub: Highguard is finally here – but can it recover from its rocky marketing reveal?
‘We hope you’ll jump in with us one more time to show your support and get those final great matches in while we still can,’ the team said. ‘From all of us at Wildlight, thank you for playing, for supporting us, and for being part of Highguard’s story.’
After weeks of discourse about its potential longevity, this is the final blow for Highguard. It’s also a fair warning sign for developers in the live service space that even high profile games like Highguard have a very short runway to launch and make an impact.
There will be no ‘turning the ship around’ for this experience.
Our thoughts are with those developers now farewelling their work, and their time at Wildlight Entertainment.
Also on ScreenHub: PlayStation shuts down tenured studio, Bluepoint Games
Bluepoint Games, the developer behind major PlayStation remakes and remasters including God of War Collection, Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Gravity Rush Remastered, Shadow of the Colossus, and Demon’s Souls, has been shut down.
It’s a significant loss, given its tenure and prowess. The studio was established in 2006, and had been a specialist in high-quality remakes, with a focus on enhancing and porting titles to haul them across generations.
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