Wildlight Entertainment, the studio behind Highguard, is facing company-wide layoffs just 17 days after the game’s servers went online.
Just over two weeks since Highguard released, developers are allegedly being let go from the California-based studio. Exact numbers are unclear at the time of writing, but according to one impacted developer, it spans “most of the team.”
“Unfortunately, along with most of the team at Wildlight, I was laid off today,” Level Designer Alex Graner was first to share on LinkedIn. “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.”
It wasn’t long before others followed suit with their own posts. From Senior Software Engineers to Environment Artists, the layoffs are wide-reaching.
“It was the best team I’ve ever worked with,” Lead Tech Artist Josh Sobel said. “I’ve never put so much of myself into a project before.”
Wildlight Entertainment addressed the layoffs soon after, outlining how “a number of team members” had been let go, but that a “core group” will continue supporting Highguard.
“We’re proud of the team, talent, and the product we’ve created together. We’re also grateful for players who gave the game a shot, and those who continue to be a part of our community.”
Highguard was revealed as the final surprise at the 2026 Game Awards, to much contention. The free-to-play raid shooter was instantly met with a wave of backlash for its placement during the annual gaming showcase.
In the weeks that followed, developers remained silent. It wasn’t until a preview event, one we attended, that we finally got more information. Highguard servers were switched online shortly after, and tens of thousands jumped in to see for themselves.
Despite initial review-bombing, Highguard peaked with 97,249 concurrent players on Steam alone. However, it struggled to maintain even a tenth of that. At the time of writing, Highguard’s 24-hour peak on Steam stands at 3,822 players. This makes it fall outside of the top 200 most active games on Steam by player count.
On January 26, 2026, the day of launch, developers unveiled plans for Highguard’s first year. This roadmap included new Vanguards, maps, weapons, mounts, and more. Layoffs have now struck before devs got to finish the first ‘Episode’ worth of content.
It’s currently unclear what the layoffs might mean for the future of the game. It’s possible some new content continues to trickle out, though it’s also possible we see a repeat of Concord, with servers taken offline in the near future.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted here with any further details as they emerge.
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