Wildlight Entertainment’s Highguard will shut down on March 12, 2026, after failing “to build a sustainable player base.”
In a statement posted on social media, Wildlight said it will release one final update before Highguard’s servers go offline.
“Since launch, more than two million players stepped into Highguard’s world,” it said. “[Players] shared feedback, created content, and many believed in what we were building. For that, we are deeply grateful.”
“Despite the passion and hard work of our team, we have not been able to build a sustainable player base to support the game long term.”
Earlier this week, reports suggested that fewer than 20 people were working at Wildlight following last month’s layoffs.
Staff were reportedly told that the studio’s financing – which was allegedly from Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group – “was contingent upon hitting certain metrics, such as retention rate, which they’d failed to even come close to achieving.”
Highguard was revealed at The Game Awards last December to a mixed reception.
There was little marketing before its January 26 launch, intended to recreate the shadow drop of Apex Legends in 2019.
Wildlight was co-founded by former Respawn Entertainment devs, with its CEO Dusty Welch previously being COO and GM of Apex.
“The plan was to announce, go dark, and then the next thing that we want players to see is the game,” said Wildlight creative director James McCord.
“If the reception had been totally different, it would have been the same plan. The key is, you’ve got to play the game.”
