Tencent has pulled funding from Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment just weeks after the shooter’s launch, leaving fewer than 20 developers still working on the live-service title.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the studio laid off most of its roughly 100-person team in February after failing to hit player retention targets, reportedly set by the game’s secret backer, Tencent.
The free-to-play shooter, which launched on January 26, quickly lost around 90% of its players within a week, after peaking at nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam on day one.
Highguard’s team gutted as player count plummets
On February 11, just over two weeks after launch, Wildlight told staff meeting that the studio was out of money and that most of the team would be laid off, receiving a “small” severance package.
Management said that Tencent had pulled its financial backing, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
Wildlight was founded in 2021 by former developers from Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Apex Legends and Titanfall. Many of these developers apparently felt that they weren’t properly rewarded for the success of Apex, which generated more than $3 billion for EA.
Wildlight Entertainment attracted developers to join by offering a profit-sharing incentive, so if Highguard was a big success, everyone would reap the financial rewards.
Despite adding a 5v5 mode and frequent updates, Highguard has failed to get players back. As of this week, the player count has dipped as low as 250 on Steam.
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